The Pridelanders
by Aquaman52
Summary: An alternate history of the first Lion King movie. What if Simba hadn't run away to the jungle after Mufasa died? What if there were other cubs in the Pridelands? What if Simba joined together with these other cubs to take down Scar? Part 1 complete
1. Prologue

**A/N: **There used to be a foreword roughly the size of the Chrysler Building right here. It's gone now. You're welcome.**  
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* * *

**Prologue**

**Mufasa**

I stared down at the little ball of fur curled up next to Sarabi, and my heart seemed ready to burst with pride. Finally, I had a son to succeed me as ruler of the Pridelands, but that wasn't the only reason why I was so ecstatic. Simply being the father of the fragile new being that lay before my feet was enough to set my heart ablaze with excitement. I knew that I had other responsibilities as king that I would soon need to attend to, but for the moment I was utterly entranced by my own lifeblood, and the problems and worries of my pride seemed to be a thousand miles away.

"My little Simba," I said happily as I tickled my son under his chin. Simba cooed and squirmed, and I grinned back at him.

"_Our _little Simba," my wife Sarabi replied as she licked me on the cheek.

I laughed, and for a moment I wished with all my heart that I could spend all my days like this one, just me and my family without a care in the world. Unfortunately, a king's own desires can only take precedence for so long, and I was brought out of my reverie by the call of a small blue hornbill that practically sprinted through the mouth of the cave.

"Sire!" the panicked bird, whose name was Zazu, panted. "A rogue! In the Pridelands!"

I rolled my eyes. Rogues were never good news, but I could never understand why Zazu always got so worked up about them. Usually, it was a simple enough matter to chase them away or fight them off.

"Well, I suppose I'd better go intercept him," I sighed as I glanced back longingly at the little cub snoring between my wife's forepaws. With a burst of willpower I managed to tear my gaze away and focus on the task at hand. "Zazu, find a couple lionesses to accompany me. I'd like for this to end quickly and quietly if at all possible."

"Yes, sire. Right away," Zazu said as he bowed, then without another word he flew off to summon the aid I had requested.

"I wonder if Zazu has a family somewhere," Sarabi mused as I watched my majordomo flap off into the distance.

"I doubt it," I answered with a sigh. "Not the way I overwork him."

Sarabi rubbed her head under my neck. "I wouldn't worry about him. He's been your right-hand man for years, and I haven't heard him complain yet."

"I know. Still, I can't help but feel sorry for him." I turned to look at my mate. "Maybe I could give him the day off after we deal with the rogue. I'm sure he'd appreciate that."

"You're too kind, Mufasa," Sarabi laughed. "But that's what I've always loved about you." I smiled and rubbed my head over Sarabi's, and I could feel her purr with content.

"Sire?" Zazu said as he poked his head back into the cave. "I've brought Tumani and Sarafina…are you ready to go?"

"Sarafina?" Sarabi asked in a puzzled voice. "But she should still be resting! Nala's barely a week old!"

"You shouldn't underestimate me so much, Sarabi," a light tan lioness said as she walked somewhat gingerly into the cave, followed by another darker lioness with stunningly bright blue eyes. "I'm perfectly all right."

Sarabi gave me a pleading look. "Please don't make her go, Mufasa. If there's a fight-"

"If there's a fight, I will be the only one that gets involved," I interrupted as I gave Sarabi an encouraging smile. "I promise." I then turned to face Sarafina. "If you would rather not go, now is the time to tell me, Sarafina. Are you sure you're all right?"

Sarafina smiled confidently. "I'm fine, Mufasa. But thank you for your concern." She turned to Sarabi and gave the same smile. "And thank you for yours as well, Sarabi."

Sarabi returned the smile, and Zazu cleared his throat impatiently, growing more worried by the second. "Well, I'm glad that's settled," he said, not sounding happy as much as relieved. "Now could we please go deal with the rogue before he starts attacking the herds?"

I chuckled again. "If you insist, Zazu."

* * *

Sarafina, Tumani, and I followed Zazu out into the grasslands, moving quickly to keep up with the tiny blue speck floating high above us. Soon, we arrived at a small clearing, where a female lion was being guarded by half a dozen lionesses from my pride.

"You forgot to mention that this rogue was a female, Zazu," I said dryly as Zazu landed beside the king. As the lionesses parted to let me pass, I was able to see a small mound of fur nestled against the rogue's legs. "Or that she had a child."

Zazu looked flustered. "Well, I…um…didn't think it was important…sire," he stammered.

I smiled and gave Zazu a friendly nudge on the shoulder, nearly knocking him over. "I'm not angry at you, Zazu. I just wish you wouldn't act like the grasslands are on fire every time a wanderer shows up unnoticed. Someday, your little banana beak'll fall right off with all the strain it takes."

The tiny bird puffed out his chest and scowled. "_Banana beak_?" he scoffed. "I'll have you know that..."

"Case in point..." Sarafina muttered with a roll of her eyes as Zazu continued to elaborate on the grand and noble history of his brightly-hued mandible. I bit my lip to keep from laughing again and turned back to face the newcomer, a chocolate brown and slightly built lioness whom Zazu had already completely forgotten about.

I walked calmly up to the rogue, who bowed her head in respect but didn't look at all afraid. "Greetings, stranger," I said. "What brings you to our Pridelands?"

"My name is Maji, and I come in search of a new home," answered the lioness. "My pride has been broken apart, and I have nowhere else to go. I humbly ask to be allowed into your pride, if you would be so kind."

I leaned down and gazed at the small cub that lay at Maji's feet. He quivered slightly, but then set his eyes and held himself steady, determined to be brave for his mother. I chuckled at the child's fortitude and gave him a comforting smile, which he gradually returned. "And who is this courageous little one?" I asked the lioness.

"His name is Tama," she replied. "He's only a couple weeks old, and his father is…gone now. I don't know if I'll be able to care for him alone in the wild, which is why I've come to you. I know you to be a just and fair ruler, and I hope that you will find room in your Pridelands to admit one more lioness."

I brought my eyes back up to gaze into Maji's, searching the deep brown orbs for any ill will towards myself or any of my lionesses. Though I didn't find any malice in the dark lioness's eyes, what I did find was no less surprising. On the outside Maji looked a bit frail and unsure of herself, but in those eyes I saw a fiery determination and a will to do whatever it took to protect herself and her son. She respected me, but she didn't fear me in the least. Immediately, I knew that she would be a valuable asset to my kingdom. A lioness with that kind of fire inside her might rival even Sarafina's hunting prowess.

I stood up tall and smiled at the nervous-looking lioness. "I understand. I too have a newly born son, and I see no reason why you should be forced to live as a rogue any longer," I proclaimed warmly. "I would gladly welcome you into my pride, if you would accept my invitation."

Maji sighed heavily and looked blissfully relieved. "Oh gods above...thank you, your highness!" she gushed, dropping any pretense of modesty the moment my acceptance was made . "You don't know how much this means..."

"Please, just Mufasa will do fine." I interrupted with another smile. "Now come. You must be tired after your journey."

The lioness nodded wearily as she picked up Tama and held him tightly in her jaws, and I quickly ordered the rest of my lionesses to return to Pride Rock and inform the rest of the pride about our newest member. The lionesses obeyed, and I led Maji and Tama away from the clearing, with Zazu flying overhead.

"You said you had a young son as well, Mufasa," she mumbled through the mound of fur between her teeth. "If you don't mind me asking, what's his name?"

"His name is Simba," I replied. "And he is the sun that lights up my world."

"You must love him a lot to speak of him like that."

"I don't see how a father cannot love his own son like I do." Yet another smile broke across my lips as the thought of Simba filled my head. Maji didn't seem as excited as I was, though, and as I glanced over at her I noticed that her eyes were filling up with tears. I realized that Tama's father, whoever he was, did not feel the same way about his child as I did about mine, and I wisely dropped the subject.

As we neared Pride Rock, I could see Sarabi nudging Simba out of our den, and I could barely contain my glee as I saw my son take his first wobbly steps. Tama must have seen Simba too, for his eyes were wide and already sparkling with curiosity. I could tell that he was eager to meet another lion cub.

"Tama seems happy to be here," I remarked with a laugh. Maji didn't smile since she was still holding Tama in her mouth, but I could see her eyes light up as well as she took in her surroundings. She put Tama down and sighed in amazement.

"You live here?" she whispered awefully.

"Welcome to the Pridelands," I answered. "The most beautiful place in all of Africa."

"It's hard to argue with that," Maji said, still entranced by the lush terrain laid out before her. Pride Rock dominated the view as it rose majestically in the background, and scattered around it were dozens of grazing animal herds, as well as a myriad of lakes and watering holes. The water in the lakes sparkled in the midday sun like diamonds were bobbing in between the bright blue ripples extending from the thirsty animals standing by their banks, and the vibrant green grass swayed gently in the breeze. To me, it looked like home, but to Maji, I could tell that it looked like paradise.

"Later, I'll help you find a spot in the den for you and Tama to live comfortably," I told Maji as she gazed at her new home. I then leaned down to Tama's level and smiled. "You ready to meet Simba, little one?"

Tama grinned and giggled, and after a moment Maji laughed with him. "Look how excited he is already!"

"Yeah," I said as we entered the shadow of Pride Rock. "He's a feisty one. I think he and Simba are going to be good friends."

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Enter Tama...a bit younger than I had originally planned out, but whatever. Oh, and if the whole backstory with Tama's father seems important, that's because it is. Very much so. Anyway, keep reading and REVIEW!


	2. Chapter 1: The Surprise

**Chapter 1: The Surprise**

**NINE MONTHS LATER**

**Simba**

"You are so full of crap, Simba," Tama said as he rolled his eyes.

I smiled smugly. "You're just jealous 'cause I'm so much braver than you."

"Oh, so running away like a scared little rabbit is brave now?" Tama shot back with a malicious grin.

"I wasn't scared!" I growled as my fur bristled. "There must've been a hundred hyenas, and I fought 'em all off!" Tama rolled his eyes again and walked off. "I didn't see you out there in the graveyard with us!" I shouted after him. "Where were you?"

"I was right here," he replied. "Not crying behind a pile of bones about to get eaten, I might add."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" I said as I crouched low to the ground, tail up in the air.

Tama turned around and crouched opposite me, grinning. "Exactly what it sounds like…crybaby!"

"Say that again…" I challenged him as I returned his grin.

"Cryba-" Tama began to say before I pounced on him. For the next minute, we were one blurry mass of batting paws and playful growls. Finally, I managed to flip Tama onto his back, and I stood victorious, one paw planted in the center of his chest.

"Lemme up, Simba!" Tama laughed as he tried to squirm free.

I pressed down harder and smirked. "Not until you say I fought off a hundred hyenas. By myself."

"All by yourself, huh?" a different voice replied behind me. "I don't think so. And last time I checked, there were only three hyenas."

I turned around and saw Nala staring at me skeptically, one eyebrow raised.

"Aww, why'd you have to go and ruin it, Nala?" I complained as Tama managed to squirm free. He stood up and brushed himself off, laughing the whole time.

"Only three?" he asked. "What happened to the other ninety-seven?"

I glowered again at the beige cub, who smiled and nudged my shoulder with her paw. "Don't listen to him," she continued. "You were still really brave."

I shot another superior grin at Tama, who rolled his eyes a third time.

"Somethin' wrong with your hair, Tama?" I teased. "You're lookin' up at it so much, I figure you must be pretty worried about it."

Tama's eyebrows shot up. "Well, I should be. Don't you know about my disease?"

"Which one?"

"'Crazyfriend-itis'...had it since birth. There's all kinds of symptoms: eye rolling, deep sighs, headaches...sometimes I just can't control it, especially when a certain someone starts making up stories about their heroic triumph over an entire hyena pack."

I crouched down, ready to pounce again. "Well, maybe I can help fix it. I'm sure a couple blows to the head oughta do the trick."

Tama's legs tensed up too, and we were about to go at each other again when he suddenly stood up and stared at something behind me.

"What's the matter?" I taunted. "Afraid I'll beat you again?"

"Oh, Simba, I do hate it when you fight," said a deep voice behind me. I jumped at the unexpected sound, but I relaxed again as I looked back and saw my uncle Scar sitting behind me. He was standing tall so his shadow enveloped me, and he had an unconvincing attempt at looking worried plastered on his face. "I don't know what I'd do if something…happened to you."

"Hey, Uncle Scar," I said happily. Some people (like Tama) thought Scar was creepy, but I didn't see him like that. He was a little strange sometimes, but he was still my uncle. He wouldn't do anything to hurt me. "What are you doin' here?"

"If you must know, I was just passing through when your father stopped me and told me to find you and bring you out to the canyon. He says he's got a special surprise there for you."

"Really? Oh, boy!" I said. In an instant, I forgot what I was arguing about with Tama and started wondering what my dad's surprise would be. Usually, it was just another corner of the kingdom that he hadn't shown me yet, but sometimes he would take me to see the lions from another pride or something really cool that he found out in the wilderness. I hoped it was one of those surprises.

"I can't wait to see it! Did he say what it was?" I shouted, practically jumping up and down with excitement.

"Now, now, Simba, no more questions. I wouldn't want to ruin your father's surprise. Come along. We don't want to be late."

"Can Nala and Tama come this time? I bet they'd love to see the surprise too! Please?" I begged, flashing what I hoped was a disarming smile for good measure.

"No!" Scar said harshly, and for a moment I thought I had said something wrong. Then Scar shook his head and adopted a pleasant expression again. "I mean…your father was very specific that it's for your eyes only."

"Okay…" I mumbled. I turned to Nala and Tama. "See you later, guys. I promise I'll tell you everything once I get back!"

"Have fun, Simba!" Nala replied, a tiny hint of disappointment flickering in her eyes. "Don't get into too much trouble without me!"

I grinned. "It wouldn't be any fun getting into trouble without you, Nala."

Nala's cheeks went red underneath her fur, and suddenly my mind went blank. It was like seeing Nala react to my compliment flipped a switch in my head or something, and all that switch did was give me a weird fuzzy feeling in my chest that made my paws sweat and my brain shut off. It had happened a couple times before when I was with Nala, but never in front of Tama, or anybody else for that matter. I didn't know what to do, or really even what to think.

_Is this what being…betrothed feels like?,_ a little voice in my mind that sounded an awful lot like mine wondered as Nala looked away, slightly embarrassed about blushing. I knew that betrothed meant getting married, and my dad always said he got a fuzzy feeling when he saw my mom. _Is that what this is?_

"Um…" I stammered as I tried to think of something clever to say. _Why the need to sound clever?_, I asked myself. _It's just Nala!_

"So…I guess I'll see you later?" Nala asked as she looked up again.

"Yeah…bye," I said as Scar tapped his claws against the ground. As I followed my uncle away, my conscience was practically screaming at me. _'Yeah…bye?' That's it? That's all you could come up with? You're betrothed! That means marriage, and marriage means you can't just blow her off like that!_

_I didn't blow her off!, _I argued back. _I…_

_Marriage means you've gotta be there for her. Marriage means…_

I stopped walking. "Marriage means love," I whispered to myself. The instant I thought it, I put it out of my mind. I didn't love Nala. We were friends. That was it. Love would be too complicated. Love would be too weird. Love would…

The fuzzy feeling came back, and I groaned. _How can anyone _like _feeling like this all the time?_, I wondered one last time before Scar brought me back to reality.

"What's wrong, Simba? Don't you want to see your father's surprise?" he said a little impatiently.

Quickly, I shook all thoughts of Nala out of my head. My dad was waiting. "You bet I do! Let's go!"

I bounded ahead of Scar, eager to see my dad and whatever he had in store for me. As I passed Scar, I could've sworn I saw him grin, but when I turned around again his face was clear. I don't know why, but that grin had seemed…evil somehow, like Scar had some terrible plan that I was just a tiny part of. I quickly brushed away that suspicion, though. Scar was my uncle, which meant he was almost like my dad. It was crazy to even think that he would ever want to hurt me. Right?

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**Tama**

"You bet I do! Let's go!" Simba shouted happily. As he sprinted past his uncle, I saw a smile cross Scar's face that I would remember for the rest of my life. I don't know why the thought entered my head, but as soon as I saw Scar's satisfied leer I knew that there was something more to his visit. Something he knew that Simba didn't. As crazy as it was, I had never been so sure of anything in my entire life. As if Scar knew what I was thinking, he turned his head around and fixed me with an impassive stare, and I could tell he was deciding whether I was worth bothering with. I shuddered and looked away.

"What's the matter with you?" Nala asked as Scar finally took his eyes off me. "You're acting really weird."

"I could say the same thing about you," I countered, trying to take my mind off Simba's uncle. "What was that with you and Simba a minute ago?"

She blushed again. "Nothing. He…it was really nice of him to say that, that's all."

I grinned slowly. "You _liiiiike_ him."

"No, I don't! We're just friends! Just because we're be…betro…whatever, doesn't mean we're in love!"

"Simba and Nala sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S…."

"_Shut up!_" Nala screamed as she gave me a big shove.

I stared at the now fuming tan cub, shocked at her reaction. Nala was usually very levelheaded, and it was a bit of a shock to see her that worked up over anything, let alone Simba. She stared back, and a moment later her anger fade away as quickly as it had come.

"I…I'm sorry, Tama…." she said in a small voice. She looked and sounded like she was about to cry.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm fine," I said as I walked up to her. "Besides, I kinda pushed you first, if you think about it."

"That doesn't make it any less wrong."

"Hey," I continued as I put a paw on her shoulder. "Whatever's going on with Simba…it's fine. I don't care. I'm sorry I was being such a jerk about it."

She smiled faintly. "Thanks, Tama…and you're not a jerk. Far from it."

I smiled back and let my paw drop back down to the ground. As I glanced over to where Simba disappeared, I realized I could still see him and his uncle Scar walking away in the distance. Silently, I hoped Simba hadn't seen me comforting Nala. Nala could say whatever she wanted, but it was obvious to pretty much everybody that the two were more than just friends, and I didn't want the Prince of the Pridelands thinking I was going after his girlfriend.

Simba and Scar finally disappeared behind a cliff face, and I let out another shudder. Nala noticed, but apparently didn't feel like questioning it after what had happened the last time she asked.

"Gods, Scar creeps the heck out of me," I said, anticipating the question I knew was on the tip of her tongue.

"Why's that?" she asked, wrinkling her nose. "I mean, he's kinda weird, but he's not dangerous."

"I don't know…he's just so…". _So what?_, I continued inside my head. "I don't know. I can't help but feel like he's up to something, though."

"I think you're just being paranoid. Now come on! I didn't get to eat anything last night after we got back from the graveyard, and I haven't had breakfast yet! I'm starving!"

"Go ahead. I'll…I'll catch up in a sec."

Nala gave me a puzzled look, but thankfully didn't ask questions. As she ran off, I kept staring in the direction that Simba had gone with Scar. There was still a part of me that _knew_ something was going to happen, but was that part right? Nala's voice echoed in my head again: _You're just being paranoid._ I was about to turn around when another memory poked through my subconscious: Scar's smile as he left. In an instant, my decision was made. As Nala's figure got smaller in the distance behind me, I sighed and took off towards the spot where I had seen Simba and Scar disappear. Whatever this surprise was, I had to know for myself whose idea it really was: Mufasa's, or Scar's.

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I caught up with Simba and Scar easily enough, as Scar seemed to be taking his sweet time getting to wherever the surprise was. Another pang of suspicion flew through my mind. If Scar had been in such a hurry to get Simba to his dad (as he had claimed), why was he walking slowly now, as if he were just on a morning stroll through the grasslands? It didn't make any sense, and my irrational worry for Simba increased constantly.

I don't think Simba noticed any of Scar's unusual conduct at all, and I couldn't help but grin. Simba was the type of lion who wouldn't notice a charging rhino if it was breathing down his neck, as long as there was a weird rock or a butterfly nearby. Odds were, he wouldn't think anything of Scar's strange behavior, even if he did notice it. It would be up to me to save him if Scar tried anything.

_Which, of course, he won't,_ I grumbled. _This is stupid. You're skipping breakfast because Simba's uncle gives you the creeps. Just turn around already._

I kept walking. As stupid as it was, my gut feeling of suspicion was overpowering.

Finally, Scar stopped at the lip of a huge canyon, and with another barely concealed smile he led Simba down into it. I crept up behind them and looked down on the mismatched pair from above. I could see a yellowish cub sitting on a rock enveloped by a large tree, but I couldn't hear what the lean black lion next to him was saying. Suddenly, Scar grabbed Simba and pulled him close to his jaws, and I tensed up, ready to sprint down and save my friend. But I soon realized that Scar was just whispering something into Simba's ear. Simba's face fell momentarily, but he quickly perked up again. I could just barely make out Simba's question, something about whether he would like the surprise his dad had in store for him.

Scar grinned again. "Simba, it's to _die_ for," he replied.

There it was again: that weird smile that seemed both innocent and evil at the same time. He was up to something, I just knew it. Of course, Simba didn't notice anything. Simba was busy growling at a lizard he had just found.

I rolled my eyes and backed away from the edge, looking all around for something that would give away Scar's plot, but I saw nothing except an empty desert surrounding me. Obviously, Scar had something bad planned, but _what?_ The canyon was empty aside from Simba and his new lizard friend. The only thing I could see was a giant herd of wildebeest near the far end of the gorge, and they were all peacefully grazing without a care in the world. There was nothing even remotely dangerous in sight.

No, wait...now the wildebeest were moving. Something was chasing them. No, not chasing. Herding. The entire herd was being forced towards one point, right at the edge of the…

"Oh, no," I whispered in horror as I finally realized what was happening.

I made a beeline to the edge of the canyon, not caring if Scar saw me. "SIMBA!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "LOOK OUT!"

Simba finally spotted me, and I could see my name form on his lips as a puzzled expression crossed his face. Then he turned and saw what I had seen. The entire wildebeest herd had been forced into the canyon from their field, and somehow they had made it down the cliff face and were stampeding out of control. Simba would be crushed if he didn't move!

"RUN!" I yelled again, my voice starting to go hoarse. With a gut-wrenching look of terror, Simba sprinted away, but it was too late. The herd was already on top of him.

I ran along the edge of the canyon to where I had last seen my friend, searching desperately for a small patch of yellow among the blur of gray and brown. Suddenly, a shadow fell over me, and I tripped and fell onto my back as Mufasa leapt over me and tore into the canyon, followed close behind by Scar. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew I had to get away before Scar realized who he had just run past. If he really did have something to do with this, I couldn't guess what he would do to anyone who could reveal his guilt. I scrambled to my feet and ran up to a higher ledge, where I watched everything happen seemingly all at once.

Finally, I caught sight of Simba again, barely hanging on to a rickety tree branch. Mufasa had vanished into the raging herd, and I couldn't make out any sign of him anywhere. Meanwhile, Simba was slipping off the branch more and more every second, and soon one of the enraged wildebeest smashed straight through it, shattering it into pieces. Simba was thrown up into the air, and my heart leapt into my throat as my best friend fell to what would surely be his death.

Suddenly, an ear-splitting roar rang out from the canyon, and I saw Mufasa leap out of the herd and grab Simba firmly in his teeth. The king's paws flew over the rocky canyon floor as he ran against the furious barrage of panicked wildebeest. Suddenly, he stumbled and fell hard as one of the crazed animals' hooves cracked against his skull. Simba fell from his mouth, and for a moment both my friend and his dad were lost in the mass of bodies. But then just seconds later, I saw Mufasa weaving through the herd once again, with Simba safely in his grasp. Somehow, the king managed to make it to the side of the canyon, where he gently laid Simba down on a protruding ledge. Simba turned around and reached out to help his dad, only to feel empty air as Mufasa was dragged back into the stampede with an angry roar. Both Simba and I gasped, and Simba's mournful cry for his father echoed even over the crushing noise of the stampede.

I scanned the crowd again, numb with terror. There was no sign of Mufasa anywhere. Then, another roar split the air. Mufasa burst out of the herd a second time, this time latching his claws into the rock face itself. Slowly, ever so slowly, he began to climb up to where Scar was watching him. Simba ran off towards the top of the canyon, presumably to help pull his dad over the top, but I was rooted to the spot. I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach about what would happen once the king reached his brother.

Finally, Mufasa could go no further. "Scar!" Mufasa called out as he began to slip back down the rock face. "Brother…help me!"

Scar looked down pensively on his brother for a brief moment, then without warning he unsheathed his claws and buried them in Mufasa's forepaws. Mufasa roared in pain, and Scar smiled his twisted, evil smile one last time. Scar put his head down and whispered something into Mufasa's ear, and I saw the king's eyes widen.

Then Scar threw him off the cliff, sending the king of the Pridelands spiraling down into the horde below.

My mouth was open in horror, but nothing came out. Instead, another scream pierced the air. It belonged to Simba, who had reached the top of the canyon just in time to see his father fall for the last time. I looked over at Scar. He wasn't even watching Simba. In fact, he almost looked bored as he gazed down into the canyon, watching his brother die. But as I looked closer, I saw his eyes sparkle with content, and finally I knew that this had been his plan all along. He had lured the king here and thrown him to his death with hardly a second thought, leaving the throne open for him to take for himself.

_But that can't be right!_, I thought as mind raced to comprehend what was happening. _Simba's supposed to be king next, right? He won't shut up about it! So if Mufasa dies, then Simba's..._

I was completely alone on the ledge overlooking the hellish canyon, but I still felt like someone had knocked the breath right out of my lungs. Scar wasn't done yet. If he wanted to be king, there was still one more lion in his way. Not even a lion, really; a cub.

Simba.

He was going to kill him. Scar was going to kill my best friend. And I was the only one that could stop it.

At that moment, every bone in my body was flooded with a rage I can barely even describe. I had never been so angry in all my life, and all I could think about grabbing Scar by the throat and throwing him into the canyon to die alongside Mufasa. The world took on a slightly red tint as I broke into a sprint in Scar's direction. He still hadn't noticed me, but I was sure as hell going to change that. Somewhere below, Simba cried for help. I barely heard it. I didn't care. My world had narrowed down to a single thin tunnel, with Scar at the other end. I was going to kill him.

But in the instant before I leapt at his throat, Scar jumped down into what looked like empty air, and I managed to skid to a halt before I flew over the edge too. Looking down, I saw that Scar had taken a small path down to the bottom of the gorge and was now slowly padding towards a large tan mound that lay crumpled next to a broken tree. With a wave of nausea, I realized that the lump was Mufasa's body. But where was Simba?

Scar stopped behind the corpse of the king, and for a moment he seemed to be talking to it. I was confused, until through the cloud of dust left by the stampede I spotted a smaller lump next to the body move slightly. My throat tightened as I saw Simba get up and lean into his uncle's leg, tears streaming down his face. Suddenly, a look of terror swept across Simba's face, and he looked up at Scar with wide eyes. _What did Scar tell him?_, I wondered. As I saw Simba glance back at his fallen father again, guilt began to push through the pain etched in his face, and my anger at Scar returned in full force. _What did you tell him?_, I almost screamed, though I managed to keep the shout trapped in the back of my throat. _What more could you possibly do to him?_

I looked down and realized that my claws were out and digging into the ground. As I yanked them out of the soft clay beneath my feet, I looked up again and saw that Simba was now running away towards the other end of the canyon. My eyes narrowed. Scar had made him run. He was going to pay. For everything. Just as I was about to go down the path and finish what I started, I saw Scar's lips shift slightly as he muttered something. The second after he spoke, a threesome of baying hyenas raced out of the fog behind Scar, and I knew that they were taking care of the last weak link in the chain: Simba.

I sprinted down to the end of the canyon as fast as my already weary legs could carry me, rage and panic giving me enough energy to keep pace with the hyenas. Simba wasn't as lucky, though, and the hyenas were constantly gaining on him. It didn't help that an enormous pile of rocks and branches had blocked off the other end of the canyon as well. Luckily, Simba was just quick enough, and he slipped into a small crevice and soon popped out at the top, with the hyenas literally right behind him. I silently cheered Simba on until suddenly he was forced to stop. His toes were now hanging over the edge of another cliff, and far below him a huge pit of briars coated the landscape. Once again, a chill went down my spine. I knew exactly what my friend was thinking.

"Don't do it, Simba," I begged. "There has to be another way out!"

Once again, I was too late. Simba looked back at the approaching hyenas, and seemed to come to a decision. Slowly, he closed his eyes, sucked in a breath...

And stepped over the edge.

I think I was screaming, but I couldn't hear it. I could hardly hear anything, actually. The world was deathly silent, with the only noise coming from the baying of the hyena pack and Simba groaning as he bounced down the hillside. Finally, he reached the bottom and crashed into the briars. His battered body quickly disappeared under the thorns, and in an instant my friend was gone.

I felt my face grow hot, and I closed my eyes before my tears could escape them. It was over. Scar had won. Simba couldn't have survived that fall.

At some point, I heard the hyenas arguing, and I looked up. Though my vision was blurry, I could see one of the hyenas yanking spikes out of his butt with his teeth as the other two laughed. It would've been funny if Simba had been there. _Simba…_

My eyes fell shut again. My best friend in the whole world was gone. We'd never laugh together again. The tears fell faster as I remembered our last fight. I couldn't believe that the last thing I had said to him was how crazy he was.

"Well, he's as good as dead out there, anyway," one of the hyenas said loudly. _You got that right_, I thought dejectedly. Maybe later I would go in and find his body. The least I could do was make sure he was buried properly with his father.

"And if he ever comes back, we'll kill him."

_Wait, what? He's already dead!_

I looked up. The hyenas were staring at something on the horizon. "Ya hear that?" one of the mangy creatures yelled. "If ya ever come back…_we'll kill ya!_" As the hyena's threat reverberated menacingly around the canyon, I squinted in the direction that he was yelling, hardly daring to even hope that the target of the hyena's jeers was who I thought it was. But sure enough, a small leonine figure was sprinting away into the desert. I knew without a doubt that it was Simba.

My tears were gone, and I felt a humongous grin stretch across my face. Without another word, I raced after the figure fading into the sunset. _I have to catch him before he runs away forever_, I thought as my paws flew over the earth. I wasn't worried, though. The royal bloodline (not to mention my best friend) was still alive. There was still hope for the future. All I needed to do was catch that future before it disappeared for good in the unforgiving desert.

------------------------------

**Simba**

I don't know how long I kept running. I felt no pain. I had no thoughts. I just wanted to escape from everything: the hyenas, the canyon…and my guilt.

I knew that my dad was dead because of me. If I had been paying attention, if I had just run to the side and climbed up, none of this would've happened. I could go back to Pride Rock. We would still have a king. I could see Nala again…

_And Tama_, I thought, for some reason still trying not to think about Nala, still trying to keep away that warm fuzzy feeling that I craved and hated at the same time. Then another voice spoke up, louder than my own thoughts.

_Why are you fighting it?_, it asked me. _What's wrong with loving Nala?_

I stopped on a dime, panting hard from my run. Why _was_ I fighting it? Sure, we were friends and all, but did that mean we couldn't be…more?

I groaned and squeezed my stinging eyes shut. I was giving myself a headache trying to piece together how I really felt. I needed to just drop it. It didn't matter anyway. It wasn't like I'd ever see her again. I was a rogue now, a criminal who didn't belong to any pride. _And criminals don't get to fall in love or see their family or hear their friends' voices…. _As I thought that, I could've sworn I heard Tama call my name from far away, and for some reason a dark chuckle slipped out of my throat. Apparently, it wasn't enough that I had killed my own dad and been pretty much exiled by someone I had trusted unconditionally for my whole life; now I was hearing things, too. But then the voice called my name again, only much closer this time.

I turned around slowly, and through the haze of the midday heat I could see a blurry figure running in my direction. He looked small and brownish, and as he got closer I could make out a little brown tuft on his head. Could it really be…

"Tama?" I whispered, right before Tama leapt at me and tackled me, laughing giddily the whole time.

Once we finally stopped rolling, I was flat on my back and Tama was standing over me, one of the biggest grins I've ever seen on anyone spread across his face.

"_It really is you! You're alive!_" he practically screamed as he laughed again.

I realized that he must have seen what happened in the canyon. _Great…now he knows about my dad too._ I let my head fall back into the sand and closed my eyes. "How much did you see?" I muttered with a sigh.

"Only all of it!" he replied from somewhere above me. "First there was the stampede, and then you were on that tree, and then your dad saved you, and then…" Tama trailed off. I guess he had remembered what had happened after that. "Simba, I'm really sorry about your dad."

I pushed Tama off of me and looked away. I didn't want to remember what happened. What I had made happen…

"You okay, Simba?" I heard Tama ask.

"No, Tama. I'm not okay," I replied, trying to keep my voice level. I didn't do a very good job of it, though, and Tama didn't fail to take note.

"Look, if you want to talk about it or something-"

"No, _I don't want to talk about it!_" I screamed, my shout more full of pain than anger. "There's nothing to talk about! I went into the canyon, and my dad's dead because of it!"

Tama looked shocked. "Simba, you can't think this is your fault…"

"How could it _not_ be my fault?! If I haven't gone down there, my dad would still be alive! It's that simple!"

Now Tama looked angry. "No, it isn't that simple, Simba! Did it ever occur to you that it was Scar who tricked you into going down there in the first place? It's his fault your dad died!"

To be honest, that hadn't occurred to me, but I wasn't about to tell Tama that. Plus, I had still been gullible enough to be led into the trap that had killed my father. I was still partially to blame.

"Yeah, but I still listened to him! I still let him take me into the canyon!" I shot back.

Tama looked ready to argue more, but then he closed his eyes, took in a long deep breath, and let it out slowly. For some reason, he seemed even angrier about my dad's death than I was.

After a moment of silence, Tama opened his eyes again, seemingly with his temper back under control. "Simba, you trusted your uncle, and he took advantage of you for it," he continued in a calm but deadly serious tone. "I'm only going to say this one more time: it's…not…your…fault."

I sighed and looked away. The fight had gone out of me as soon as it had left Tama. I didn't really want to fight with one of my best friends, but no matter what he said I would always know that I played a part in my dad's death.

"So what do you want me to do?" I mumbled without looking at my friend. "Should I go back?"

"Not now," he reasoned. "If you go back now, Scar'll just finish what he started in the canyon. You'll be dead before you even get to Pride Rock."

"_Then what am I supposed to do?!_" I was shouting again. "I can't go back, I can't stay here…I'm just gonna have to run away and take my chances as a rogue."

I stood up and started to leave, but Tama jumped in front of me before I could take a single step. "No, you're not," he said forcefully. "You're gonna stay in the Pridelands, just...not at Pride Rock."

My eyebrows shot up, and I sat back down with a bump, a bit surprised by my friend's confidence, but not very encouraged by it. "All right...I'll stay. Where, exactly?"

I could almost see the gears turning behind Tama's eyes. "You know the caves by the river?"

I snorted. "You mean the ones we found a couple weeks ago and nearly got killed exploring? How could I forget?"

"Great. Go there and find one that's not too wet. If you hide out in the caves, you can be out of Scar's sight and inside the Pridelands at the same time."

My brow creased and a tiny frown dragged my face down towards the hot desert sand. It sounded like a good plan, but was I really supposed to live in a wet, moldy cave forever? "How long would I have to stay in the caves?"

"I don't know," Tama replied. "Until we can figure out some way to get back at Scar, I guess." I still wasn't convinced, and Tama picked up on my discontent fairly quickly. "Hey, it's not like you'd have to stay there all the time. You could still go out into the grasslands…I could help you learn to hunt. You'd be fine."

I sighed again. As uncomfortable as I was with the idea of being stuck in a damp cave for years, I had to admit that it had to be better than becoming a rogue.

"I…guess that'd be okay," I reluctantly agreed. "Can I tell Nala where I'm going first?"

Tama gave me a sarcastic look. "Can _you _tell her? Did the words 'dead before you reach Pride Rock' just not mean anything to you?"

"Okay, I get it…can you at least tell her I'm not dead, though?"

Tama smiled. "The next time I can get her alone. I promise."

I smiled weakly back. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all.

* * *

Well, that was it for any movie tie-ins the story had...from here on out, it's all me, baby.

Also, I'll go ahead and clarify something that I'm sure someone will still ask about: Tama is a boy. I know in some other stories "Tama" is a female character, but I always imagined him to be a guy. Once you get farther into the story (more specifically, the romantic parts), it'll be a little more obvious what gender he is...


	3. Chapter 2: The Fugitive

**Chapter 2: The Fugitive**

**Simba**

I had forgotten how big the river caves were. When Tama, Nala, and I had first discovered them a few weeks earlier, it had been the middle of the day, and the bright sun had illuminated most of the interior caverns enough to see comfortably. Our problems began after the sun went down and we realized that we couldn't see two feet in front of us. It had taken us hours to find our way out again, and by that time half the pride had gone out looking for us. Needless to say, it was a little nerve-wracking to return to the same spot as the sun was setting on the final day of my father's rule.

I stood at the mouth of the biggest cave, staring into a darkness that seemed to go on forever. The moon was full and the clearing around me was bright, but the inside of the cave was as black as a panther's fur. I realized that I was scared to go in, and it embarrassed me that, after everything I had been through that day, I was afraid of the dark.

"See, I told you this would be fine!" Tama said as he tried to be optimistic. "It's roomy. It's secluded. And it's on the water. What more could you ask for?"

"Not being exiled would probably be at the top of the list…" I said gloomily.

Tama's eyes dropped, and he adopted a serious expression as he walked over to me and put his paw around my shoulder. "Okay, all joking aside, you'll be safe here. I'm pretty sure we're the only ones that even know this place exists. Now will you promise not to get too depressed?"

I knew Tama wouldn't leave until he thought I was happy, so I put on a smile. "Yeah, I promise. Thanks for helping me, Tama. Do you mind if I go to bed now, though? I'm exhausted."

Tama seemed relieved that I was okay. "No problem. I should probably be heading back about now anyway." A look of displeasure filled Tama's face. "Wouldn't want to miss King Scar's coronation…" he said darkly.

"Will you come back in the morning?" I asked.

"I'll try…I can't make any promises, though. I'm not sure if Scar saw me at the canyon or not, so it might be harder to get away than before."

"Oh…well, it's fine if you can't come, I guess."

Tama smiled again. "Don't worry. I'll find a way out. Sleep well, Simba."

I watched Tama walk away, wishing more than ever that he could have stayed. In truth, I couldn't have cared less who stayed with me, as long as somebody did it. I had never slept anywhere without my parents right by my side, and I wasn't looking forward to doing so now in a pitch-black cave. And it didn't help that it'd only been a few hours since I'd watched my dad fall to his death.

I turned around to look into the cave once more, and I swallowed hard as I stared into the inky depths of my new home. It was going to be a long night.

------------------------------

**Tama**

I sprinted back to Pride Rock as fast as I could. I hadn't told Simba this, but I really wasn't sure if I'd make it back to the caves in the morning, or for any morning in the near future. In fact, I wasn't even sure if I'd be alive the next morning.

Everything hung on whether Scar had recognized me at the canyon earlier that day. If he had, I was as good as dead. He would probably do anything to keep his evil plot to steal the throne a secret, even if it meant the killing of a defenseless cub. And if he didn't kill me for that, there was always the chance that he would decide to bring back the old law of killing off all of the cubs born during the previous king's rule. Mufasa had outlawed that practice when he became king, but there was no telling what Scar would do. Despite all that, I was still going back. No matter what the risk, I couldn't let my mother or Nala think that both Simba and I had died in one day. It would break both of their hearts beyond repair.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally reached the base of Pride Rock. I had already missed Scar's official coronation as king, but I wasn't too late to see the result. Hyenas were everywhere, and it occurred to me that Scar must have formed an alliance with them; otherwise, why would the lionesses not attack? _It figures,_ I thought to myself as I watched a group of hyenas tear apart a zebra carcass. _Like ruler, like follower_.

I found my mother easily enough. Of all the lionesses, she definitely had the most unique coat. She had a dark tan, almost brown shade to her fur, much like mine, which meant she clashed pretty heavily when she was with the other paler lionesses. When she saw me, she cried out and swept me up into her paws almost before I came fully into view.

"Tama!" she screamed as she squeezed the life out of me. "I thought…I thought you and Simba both…"

"Mom," I mumbled through her fur. "I'm fine. Really. I just got lost coming home." As she put me down, I realized that no one else knew that I had seen Simba. I would have to fake ignorance about the day's events if I was going to keep my secret.

I tried to look worried. "Mom, some of the other cubs were talking about Simba. Is he really…" I trailed off as my mother nodded, her eyes closing as they filled with tears. "So it's true," I said, my voice cracking slightly. "He's gone."

It wasn't nearly as hard to conjure up tears as I expected. Just thinking about how I had felt when I saw Simba fall into the briar patch brought everything back in full force: the panic, the fear, the anger at Scar, but most of all my sheer exhaustion from everything that had happened. Soon, I was crying almost as hard as my mother.

"Is…is Nala here?" I managed to choke out through my tears. My mother motioned over to a small tan lump curled up near the bottom of the main promontory of Pride Rock. I wiped my face off and tried to regain my composure as I walked up to her. Nala didn't move even when I was standing over her, and my stomach twisted as I remembered how she had blushed when Simba had complimented her earlier. I gently nudged her with my nose, and as she glanced up at me I realized how deep her pain really was.

It wasn't just the tears running down her cheeks or the awful frown on her lips that struck me. It was the utter lack of hope that I could see through her eyes that seemed to permeate all the way through her soul. It seemed as if part of her had died with Simba, and I knew that if she continued to think that he was dead, she would never be the same. I had to tell her now.

"Tama…I'm so glad you're okay," Nala said in a wispy voice, seemingly somewhat comforted by the knowledge that one of her friends had lived through the day.

I smiled, but inside I was almost terrified at how detached Nala seemed from the world. Suddenly, it felt like the need to tell her about Simba had grown even bigger.

I glanced around to make sure that Scar wasn't close enough to hear. "Nala," I said. "I have to talk to you. In private."

She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Can't it wait? I'm not really in the mood…"

"No…it's about Simba…"

Nala's eyes lit up, and the pain was gone from her face almost instantly, replaced by a combination of fear and reluctant hope. "What about him? When did you see him?" she asked in a loud voice.

I clapped my paw over her mouth and whipped my head around to face the rest of the cave, sure that someone had heard her. No one had turned around, but I knew it wasn't safe to tell her anything else until we were out of range from any unwanted listeners.

"I'll explain in a second," I whispered quickly. "Is there anywhere we can go that Scar doesn't know about?"

Nala thought for a moment, then mumbled something. She stared at me, and I realized I was still covering her mouth with my paw. Once I released her, she spoke more clearly.

"Follow me," she said quietly.

She led me out of the den and around the side of Pride Rock, until we were nearly at the back. Then she squeezed through a crack in the rocks that I had never noticed before. I burrowed in after her and soon found myself in a small cave hidden deep inside the massive monolith that served as our home. A small hole in the top of the caverm allowed a single beam of moonlight to enter Nala's hideaway, barely enough for me to see her face.

"I found this place when I was just a cub," she said. "I used to come here all the time when I wanted to be alone. When I…" She closed her eyes, and her voice fell to a whisper. "When I didn't want to play with Simba..."

I scooted around in the cramped space until I was sitting next to her. I didn't put my foreleg around her this time; I just let her lean into my shoulder. She wasn't crying yet, but it wouldn't be long if I didn't tell her my news.

"Nala…" I said as she opened her eyes again. "Simba didn't die in the canyon."

Her eyes grew wide. She jerked away and stared at me. "What do you mean? Scar said he and Mufasa both-"

"Scar lied," I interrupted. "Mufasa was killed in the stampede, but Simba…" I trailed off again as I glanced around me one last time. I knew I was being way too paranoid, but I kept getting the strangest feeling that someone was watching us. Finally I leaned over and whispered into Nala's ear. "Simba's still alive."

If it was even possible, I could've sworn that Nala's eyes got even bigger after I dropped that little bombshell. For a long time, she stared around the cave, looking at everything but me, and I was afraid that either her emotions had finally won over her common sense or, even worse, she didn't believe me. Finally, she turned her eyes in my direction.

"Is it true? Is he really alive?" she asked so quietly I could barely hear her.

"Yes. He's alive, and I can show him to you tomorrow as long as Scar doesn't try to keep us here."

_Or as long as he doesn't try to kill us,_ I thought to myself.

Once again, Nala fell silent. I was about to ask her if she was okay when she suddenly let a strange noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob. The next thing I knew, I was on my back as Nala hugged me even harder than my mother had. She laughed as tears rolled down her face, and I could have sworn I heard something crack in my back.

"Geez, what is it with you guys and hugging?" I gasped as I tried to squeeze out of Nala's embrace. It was pointless to try to escape, though. Nala had always been inexplicably stronger than both me and Simba, so I was stuck until she decided to let me go. Fortunately, that moment came a few seconds later, just as the edges of my vision started to go black from lack of air. I sucked in a huge breath as Nala backed off, red as a beet about how she had reacted.

"I'm…I'm so sorry, Tama," she said, stifling another laugh as she watched me stumble to my feet.

"Yeah, well, try apologizing to my head," I groaned as I rubbed my temple. "It feels like there's a stampede going on in there." Nala's face fell, and I grinned shyly as I realized my mistake. "Sorry, bad choice of words."

"It's fine," she replied, and I was glad to see that the hopelessness was gone from her eyes. "But forget about that! Where's Simba?"

"He's at the river caves. You know, the ones we found a couple weeks ago?"

Nala looked panicked. "You sent him _there_? Of all the places in the Pridelands, you sent him to the river caves? What is wrong with you?!" she half shouted at me.

"Hey, it was the only safe place I could think of! No one else will ever find him there!" I argued back.

"Yeah, probably because no one else is crazy enough to go there!" Nala screamed in my face. "He's gonna get lost again, and then he really will be dead! And it'll be all your fault!" She gave me a huge shove that sent me careening into the cave wall, where I bounced off with a pained growl.

"It's because of me he's not already dead!" I snarled as I jumped back to my feet. I regretted raising my voice almost before the word left my lips. I couldn't keep letting my temper get the best of me, especially now that Simba was gone. I took a deep breath and tried to keep my voice level.

"Look, I know you're worried about him, Nala, but he'll be perfectly fine as long as he stays near the caves. Can you please just trust me on this?"

Nala took a deep breath too, but her struggle to keep her emotions in check wasn't going as well as my own. Finally, she seemed to have calmed down a bit, and she nodded slowly.

"All right, fine," she said slowly. It was obvious that she wasn't fine at all, but apparently she had decided not to pick a fight with me. "I trust you. But when can I see him?"

"Hopefully tomorrow, when I go back to check on him. I'll take you along if you want."

"Yeah, sure…that'd be great."

I gave Nala a worried look. "You sure you're okay, Nala?" I asked her.

She smiled. "I am now," she said, and finally I was reassured that Nala would be all right.

"Great!" I said as my face broke into a grin. "So…tomorrow morning, then?"

I think Nala answered me, but whatever she said was drowned out by a massive thunderclap that made the entire cave vibrate. Nala looked at me again.

"Where did you say Simba was?" she asked, a hint of fear creeping into her voice.

I crawled over to the cave entrance and looked outside. The evening sky, which had been a deep blue color when we had entered the cave, had taken on an angry dark red hue and was dotted with pulsing black clouds. I felt my heart sink as I watched the sky darken more every second. It seemed like the very air crackled with electricity.

"Oh, no," I muttered to myself. "This is bad. If there's one thing Simba hates more than anything, it's…"

------------------------------

**Simba**

"…THUNDERSTORMS!"

Outside the cave, the earth seemed to shake violently with every thunderclap, and the rain blew sideways through the cave entrance. I was huddled against the dripping wet cave wall, trapped between the horrible noise outside and the awful darkness on the inside, and I had never been so terrified in my entire life. I wanted nothing more than for somebody-_anybody_-to be there with me.

"I want my dad back!" I wailed as the storm continued its furious assault outside. "_I want my daddy back!"_

The storm seemed to go on for hours. Or it could have been days. There was no concept of time for me, just an endless barrage of wet and cold and fear. I curled up into as small a ball as I could manage and cried. I cried because I was scared, because I was lonely, but most of all because I missed Pride Rock. I missed sleeping in the warm den with fifty other lions surrounding me. I missed being able to wake up next to the two lions I loved the most in the whole world, my parents, and then being able to go outside and play with the two cubs I loved the second most. I cried because I knew that I would never ever get to have any of those things again. Not now, not later, _not ever_.

Outside, the storm worsened constantly. I shut my eyes tight and moaned.

"_I want my daddy back!" _I screamed once more into my paws. The storm didn't listen.

------------------------------

Silence.

That was the first thing I noticed. The river was quiet. There was no breeze. Total silence seemed to envelop everything to the point that it was almost suffocating.

I opened my eyes. The storm was over. Outside, the ground was ablaze with white light. As I looked up, my mouth dropped open. Hanging above my head was the most enormous and beautiful night sky I had ever seen. The moon was full and seemed to be a hundred times bigger than usual, and the rest of the sky was literally covered with so many stars that I couldn't even begin to count them. There was almost no evidence that there had even been a storm at all.

I slowly got to my feet, surprised by how sore I was. _How long was I curled up like that?_, I wondered as I grimaced and stretched. Finally, most of the feeling had returned to my legs, and I was able to walk outside. The ground was still thoroughly soaked, and I shivered as I realized that I was too. I shook myself off vigorously, filled with life by the bright light emanating from the heavens.

Suddenly, I felt someone's paw on my shoulder. I was about to turn around to see who it was, but that was before I felt how warm the paw was. And how comforted it made me feel. And how sleepy…

I dragged myself back to the cave, stifling a huge yawn along the way. As I reached the spot I had occupied during the storm, I glanced around sluggishly to see who had been the source of my contentment. I blinked hard. The clearing was empty. Suddenly, the sky flashed even brighter, and I could have sworn I saw the stars moving in the sky above me. Before I could comprehend what I was seeing, the stars were already back in their original positions, just like they had always been. But as I closed my eyes, I realized that, for a split second, the stars had formed a face in the heavens. I smiled as I recognized the lion I had seen in the clouds, and I fell asleep quickly, content now that I knew my father was watching over me somewhere.

------------------------------

**THE NEXT MORNING**

**Tama**

"Tama! _Wake up, Tama!_"

I groaned and cracked one eye open, then screamed and jerked backwards into the den wall. Nala was standing over me with an impatient look, and the first thing I had seen when I woke up was her eyes literally an inch away from mine. I glared as my heart hammered against my rib cage.

"Do the words 'personal space' mean anything to you, Nala?" I gasped as she lowered her gaze.

"Sorry…I couldn't sleep," she said sheepishly. "Can we go see Simba now?"

I yawned and glanced outside. "I don't know, what time is…" I trailed off. It was still dark outside. "Nala, is the sun up yet?"

Nala bit her lip. "Umm…well, not exactly _up_…almost, though."

I fantasized briefly about _almost_ ripping Nala into little bite-sized pieces, but I restrained myself. Barely. "So, instead of going back to sleep like everyone else, you decided to wake me up and run off into the wilderness while the moon's still out?" I half-growled through clenched teeth.

Nala looked hurt, and I found my compassion again. "I'm sorry, Nala…you know I'm not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, so…just wait a little longer, okay? I promise I'll take you to see him. Just not before the sun comes up…"

Nala nodded slowly. "I'm just so worried about him. What if he ran away during the storm?"

I rolled my eyes. "Nala, Simba wouldn't go out in a thunderstorm if his life depended on it," I said. "Besides, the storm's over now. He's probably asleep now." I looked at Nala, somewhat worried at how tired she looked. "Like you should be."

Nala sighed. "I can't sleep. Not now."

"Just try, okay? It won't be long before morning comes."

Suddenly, Nala's eyes shone with tears. "I can't do it…I can't stop thinking about him! Every time I close my eyes, I see hurt and alone and scared and…"

Nala sat down hard and began to sob again, and I had no idea what to do about it. It wasn't like I could just take her to see him then. Sneaking off in the middle of the night would do nothing but create even more suspicion about our whereabouts, which was something we couldn't afford to risk. Finally, I got up and put a foreleg around her shoulder, rubbing it shyly. Almost immediately, she leaned heavily against me, and her sobs gradually got quieter. After a few minutes, Nala was snoring.

I laid her down gently and let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding in. _Why was I holding my breath?_, I wondered as I gazed at her sleeping form. Suddenly, it all clicked together. _Getting so close to her feels like you're betraying Simba_, I thought uncomfortably. I groaned again and flopped over on my side with a dull ache throbbing in my forehead. Helping Simba was getting so much harder than I thought it would be.

------------------------------

Outside the den, the sun slowly rose to take its place among the pink and gold clouds. I watched the day begin with a bittersweet feeling in my stomach. It didn't seem fair that the first day of Scar's rule should start so beautifully. I glanced back at Nala, who ironically was still sleeping like a log. I let her sleep. She'd had a bit of a rough night that I had unfortunately experienced first hand.

Finally, as the sun came fully over the horizon, I decided to wake Nala and head out to see Simba. Most of the other lions in the cave were already awake and moving around, so it was a lot tougher to navigate back to where Nala was spread out on the den floor. I nudged her gently in the side, and she groaned and rolled over, her eyes squeezed shut.

"Morning, sleepyhead," I said with a grin. "What's the matter? You were plenty awake a couple hours ago."

Nala groaned again. "Go 'way, Simba…I don't want to play yet."

I was taken aback by her response, and for a moment I was shocked into silence. Finally, I found my voice again. "Um...Nala? It's Tama. Remember?"

She opened her eyes and blinked a couple. "Oh, hi. Of course I remember you, silly! Did I call you something different?" she asked with a confused look. I don't think she remembered what she had mumbled as she passed from her dream into the real world.

"No, you just…" I stuttered. "Never mind. You ready to go?"

Her eyes snapped fully open as my promise shot to the top of her mind. "You bet I am! Let's go!" she said as she jumped to her feet.

I blinked as Simba's voice echoed through my mind. He had said the same thing before leaving with Scar. Before everything had gone wrong…

"What's the matter with you? Hyena got your tongue?" Nala teased as she bounced around me. "Come on, let's go already!"

I shook my head. I was going to drive myself nuts if I kept flashing back like that. "Yeah, let's go," I said, shoving any memories of the previous day out of my mind.

We made it to the caves in record time thanks to Nala sprinting nearly the whole way like her life depended on it. Finally, I caught up with her as she reached the riverbank near the caves. Well, not so much 'caught up with her' as 'almost smashed into her when she stopped on a dime right in front of me'. I was about to complain when I noticed Nala was looking a little strangely at me. Her face was clear, but in her eyes I could see something that looked like…fear?

"You go first, Tama," she said as she shoved me forward.

I gave her a quizzical look. "Why the sudden stop?"

Nala looked away, and I realized that for whatever reason she was nervous about seeing Simba. I figured that there must have been a part of her that was still afraid that he wouldn't be there, that he really was dead after all, and immediately I understood why she wanted me to go first.

Without another word, I strolled into the clearing and looked around. The caves seemed to have weathered the storm pretty well. The river ran clear of any mud or dirt, and most of the trees nearby were standing tall. Everything all around me seemed perfect. There was just one tiny little problem.

Simba wasn't there.

I gazed around the clearing again frantically, but still no Simba. I heard Nala come out of the grass behind me. _ Damnit_, I cursed inside my head. _She's gonna think he's dead somewhere._

I ran into the huge cave where I had left Simba the previous night. A small patch of rock wasn't as damp as the rest of the cave, and I could barely make the shape of an ear and one paw in the dry spot. _So you were here during the storm_, I mused, _but where the heck are you now?_

I turned around to apologize to Nala, expecting her to be terrified, but instead she had nothing but hatred spread out on her face. I didn't understand until she spoke.

"You _lied _to me," she hissed through clenched teeth, her eyes brimming over again.

For a moment I was speechless, but then her words finally sunk in. "Wha…_no!_" I stammered. "He was here last night, I swear!"

She was glaring at me so angrily I was sure her eyes would burn two little holes in my chest. "You knew how badly I wanted to see him, and you tricked me into thinking he wasn't dead just so you could have a little bit of fun," she said, her voice dripping with venom. "Is that all this is to you? _A game?!_"

"No! Nala, I would never…"

"Forget it, Tama! I'm going home!" she cried.

"Nala! Wait a minute!" I shouted after her, but she was already gone. "_Damnit, Simba! Where are you?_" I screamed into the morning air.

"Right here, Tama. What's got you so riled up?"

I turned around and stared, my mouth dropping open. Simba was standing right behind me, with a small ostrich's neck clamped in his teeth. He spit out the ostrich and stared back. "Who were you yelling at?"

"_You_, you idiot! Where the hell were you?!"

Simba glanced down at the bird. "Hunting."

"You…but…gah…" I sputtered, not even able to form a coherent sentence through my anger.

Simba raised his eyebrows. "Ooookay…well, if you're done talking, I'm ready to eat. You want some ostrich?"

I glared at Simba. "Nope, I'm fine, thanks. Maybe Nala wants some. Oh, wait, _she's gone already!_"

Simba's eyes widened. "Nala? She was here?"

"_Yes, she was here!_" I shouted, making Simba flinch. "And now, thanks to you deciding to head off to the breakfast buffet, she thinks that you're dead and that I'm a liar for telling her that you weren't!"

I panted hard as Simba's eyes flattened against his head. "I'm…I'm so sorry. When you didn't come earlier, I thought you couldn't make it and…I was so hungry…" Simba's voice cracked, and he sniffed hard.

I mentally smacked myself for taking out my anger on Simba. None of this was his fault, but I had yelled at him like it was. He didn't need any more grief, especially from me.

"I'm sorry, Simba," I said quietly. "It's not your fault, none of this is. It's mine for not planning ahead for this."

Simba stared down at the ground. "Now she hates you…and she still doesn't know the truth. I didn't have to go hunting. I should've stayed."

_What the hell is wrong with you, Tama?_, I asked myself as Simba sat down, not even bothering to look at his kill. _He lost his dad, his home, and his birthright all in one day, and now all you can do is yell at him? He doesn't deserve a friend like you!_ I was taken aback by my own thoughts. "He doesn't deserve me?" I whispered. "Where did that come from?"

I snapped back to the real world and noticed that Simba still hadn't touched his first kill. I felt even worse and decided to try and cheer him up.

"That's a heck of a grab for your first hunting trip, Simba. Where'd you find it?" I asked, trying to think about anything other than how badly I had screwed things up.

"Out in the grasslands," Simba said glumly. "He was all alone. I think his flock might have kicked him out."

"Or he might have been hurt real bad," I said nervously. The last thing Simba needed was to go down _that_ path again. "Anyway, that's still one big bird. You wanna split it?"

"You go ahead. I'm not hungry," Simba said as he got up and walked back into the cave.

_Great job, Tama,_ the little voice in my head said sarcastically. _Now he'll starve to death thanks to your little pep talk._

"Shut up!" I growled quietly. "Just _shut up_!"

Simba looked up. "What did you say, Tama?"

I cursed under my breath. "Nothing, Simba. I…nothing."

Simba looked puzzled but didn't press the subject. I sighed and laid down outside the cave, wishing I could just sink into the rock beneath my feet and disappear. All I had wanted to do was help Simba and Nala, but the only thing I had accomplished was making both of them miserable. I felt my face grow hot, and I turned around so Simba couldn't see me cry.

------------------------------

Eventually, Simba recovered a little bit, and I was able to convince him to eat some of the ostrich he had killed. Happy that he didn't seem too affected by my outburst at him, I slipped away while he was chowing down. I didn't go straight back to Pride Rock, though. Instead, I wandered around in the grasslands, trying to make sense of my own feelings.

I felt fine now, but after I had yelled at Simba I had felt more depressed than I ever had in my entire life. It wasn't just normal everyday sadness, though. It had felt…deeper, like the anger and heartbreak had extended all the way through my soul. When that weird voice had berated me for yelling at Simba, I had felt lower than the littlest ant, and all I had wanted to do was go hide somewhere forever. Even worse, I found myself agreeing with everything it said. I didn't know what to make of that voice, and to be honest I was a little bit scared that it would come back again someday.

I walked around in the grasslands for hours, but by the time I finally stumbled across the lions' watering hole I still hadn't figured out what to do about the voice, or why I had been so sad. I put it out of my mind as my thirst grew at the sight of the huge expanse of water in front of me, and I bent over near the edge of the lake and slurped greedily.

When I was finished, I looked up at the sky and sighed. The day was even more beautiful now than it had been this morning, but it didn't any of the happiness that it usually did. Instead, it seemed to be mocking me. The rest of the world seemed so happy and perfect, but I felt so detached from all of that. I closed my eyes and tried to feel the peace that the world used to bring me, but I found nothing. Instead, something else came to me.

_You've got no one to blame but yourself_. My eyes shot open. The voice was back.

_All you had to do was bring them together,_ it continued. _It wasn't hard. It wasn't even vaguely difficult. And you still screwed it up._

"Shut up!" I shouted at no one. "I'm not listening to you!"

_Oh, but you are. You listen to every word I say. I don't just influence you, Tama; I _am_ you._

"_Shut up!_"

I looked down at my reflection in the water below. For a moment, it was just me, then it seemed to change. Nothing was physically different, but now I hated the lion that stared up at me. It was worthless to me. I lashed out at the other Tama with a growl, and the instant my paw broke the surface everything was gone. The voice, my reflection…it was as if something deeper had broken when I slashed at my own reflection. I sat back on my haunches and stared at the ripples moving away from me, feeling the tears come again.

"What's wrong with me?" I whispered as I stared into the disturbed water. No one answered, and I closed my eyes, trying desperately to block out all the pain I felt. It didn't work.

------------------------------

I finally went back to Pride Rock as the sun began to set behind the western horizon. I regarded it with mild surprise. I hadn't realized I had been gone that long. I'd be lucky if I was ever allowed to leave the den again after today.

I crept slowly into the den, hoping not to draw too much attention to myself. That, predictably, worked about as well as everything else I had done lately.

"There he is!" my mother yelled as half the lionesses in the den ran over to me. I groaned and prepared for the coming onslaught.

"Just where the _hell_ do you think you've been all day, young man?" my mother asked. I tried to respond, but she wouldn't hear it. "You know what? I don't even want to know. It's not like you bothered to tell me this morning when you left!"

"But I tried…"

"Well, next time, try harder! Isn't it enough that I had to see Simba die so young without me having to worry that you'll be next?!"

"Mom, I'm fine! I just want to go to bed," I said back testily. For some reason, I was getting annoyed at my mother for being all over my back. Why couldn't she just leave me well enough alone?

My mother's eyes narrowed. "Don't take that tone of voice with me, Tama! Now get over here! You're filthy!"

She grabbed me before I could argue. In a way, that made me even angrier. I struggled and kicked and finally shoved myself away from my mother.

"Just leave me alone!" I roared, finally losing my self-control entirely. For a moment, the den was silent. I was furious, but as I saw my mother's hurt look I realized that I didn't know why I was so angry. Once again, all I was doing was making things worse. In an instant, all the fight in me seemed to dissolve into the air, and instead I just felt tired. My eyes began to water.

"I…I'm sorry I pushed you," I managed to choke out as my mother's anguish gave way to concern. She didn't say anything; she just pulled me back into her forelegs and let me sob into her stomach.

"Oh, Tama," she crooned. "You're so upset…and I didn't realize. Can you ever forgive me?"

I nodded, my face still buried in her fur. I stayed there for a long time, finally letting out all the stress and pain that I'd kept inside of me ever since Simba had escaped from the canyon. I had been holding everything inside of me in an attempt to stay strong, and releasing all of it felt like a huge rock had been lifted from the middle of a river, letting all of the water rush out all at once. I let my mother hold me for a long time.

Finally, I was all out of tears. I felt strangely at peace, and I knew that the evil voice in my head wouldn't bother me anymore. I looked up and gave my mother a smile, which she returned with a relieved expression.

"Thanks for letting me…you know," I said as I rubbed against her again.

Her smile widened. "I'm glad you're feeling better now, my son. Just know that if there's ever anything bothering you, I'll always be here."

"I know. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"I'm sorry I yelled at you, too, Tama."

I felt nothing but love for my mother, a welcome change from the hatred and misery that had been so strong in me before. Suddenly, I noticed Nala crouched down at the edge of the ring of lionesses surrounding me. She had a very guilty look on her face, and I decided to try and fix one of the day's mistakes.

"Mom? Can I go talk to Nala for a second?" I asked.

"Of course," she said as she let me up. "Don't be too long. You look exhausted, and I think it'd be best if you went to bed a little earlier tonight."

I was about to complain when I realized that she was right: I _was_ exhausted. I grinned. "Fine, but only 'cause you're…" I trailed off as a huge yawn escaped my lips. "…making me."

My mother laughed as I walked over to Nala. Nala's eyes widened as I got closer, but she didn't move. Before I could say anything, she blurted out, "I'm sorry I ran off on you earlier, Tama."

I was astonished that she had forgiven me so quickly. "So…you don't hate me?" I asked tentatively.

"No, of course not!" Nala replied. "I…I was thinking about it after I got back here, and I realized that you weren't the type of person that would play that kind of trick on me. I realized that you really thought Simba was alive, and I felt really bad about yelling at you for it. Plus, when you came in a minute ago and you were so messed up, I thought it was partly because of how I treated you, and I felt even worse, so…" Nala took a deep breath, and I took the opportunity to cut her off.

"Nala, it's fine," I said with a smile. "I forgive you. I was so afraid that you would never speak to me again, it never even occurred to me to be mad at you."

"R-really?"

"Yeah, it's cool. And…you were right about me thinking Simba was alive."

Nala smiled. "I thought so. I knew you wouldn't make up something like that."

I grinned again and decided to push my luck. "Thanks…so, you wanna look again tomorrow? He should be there then."

Nala's face fell, and for a moment I thought I had gone too far. When she spoke again, it was in a more serious tone.

"I don't think so, Tama," Nala said. Seeing my worried look, she quickly added, "It's not because I think you're lying, it's just…I don't know whether you really saw Simba or not. I know you think you did, but if it turns out you're wrong and he really is dead…I don't want to be disappointed again like I was today. If he is alive, I'm sure he'll be fine with you protecting him. I can cope either way. Wherever he is, I know he's safe."

I sighed with relief, ecstatic that Nala and I were friends again but at the same time proud that she had so much faith in my ability to protect Simba. And if she didn't want to see him, that was fine. Sooner or later she'd come around, and when that happened everything would be right once more. For now, I had done all I could.

I laid down next to my mother, definitely ready to sleep for as long as I could. I drifted off quickly, and my slumber was blissfully uninterrupted. I was finally happy again.

* * *

Sounds like Tama's got some major issues...and unfortunately for him, they're not totally gone just yet. This was somewhat difficult to write simply because of depression being such a touchy subject, but I think I did a good job with it. Kudos to kloiten and Daydreamer747 for reviewing (unlike the other 145 of you, I might add...), and also again to Prince of Pride for betareading.

Okay, fine, I'm not really _mad_ about the lack of reviews...it was a joke. Seriously, though, reviews are good. Do them.


	4. Chapter 3: The Discovery

Yo, Aquaman here. Just throwing out a quick warning: this is where the story really begins to earn its "T" rating (mainly due to violence), so any of you that are a bit squeamish around gory stuff...you've been warned. Also, the "strange accent" that Tulio has is Scottish. It's a little hard to tell from the description Simba gives...turns out it's pretty much impossible to accurately describe an accent without any geographic references.

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Discovery**

**Simba**

Nine months passed by quickly out in the grasslands. Early on, I had been terrified of my new home, but after a while it lost its fearsome luster and I began to see that there was nothing to be scared of. As I grew more comfortable with my surroundings, I explored deeper and deeper into the caves, and by the time the rainy season came I had discovered countless hiding places, secret wells, and escape routes throughout my hideout. Even if someone did stumble upon my new home, they'd be hard-pressed to find me in the labyrinth that I now knew like the back of my paw.

I also became a much better hunter while out on my own. My first kill had really been more of a fluke rather than the skilled takedown Tama had thought it was. I had found the ostrich near a large boulder, and my plan (which had seemed brilliant at the time) had been to climb to the top of the boulder and jump down onto the ostrich's neck. As it turned out, it took me three tries to even get up on the boulder, and my jump (if you could even call it that) missed the ostrich's neck entirely, instead landing me square on its back and causing the ostrich to panic and sprint off, flapping its worthless wings and squawking. I was afraid to even move my claws out of their death grip on the ostrich's back, let alone try to bring it down for good. Finally, the ostrich ran over a small ledge and practically killed itself, breaking its neck in the fall and throwing me off its back into a huge bush. I, being the confident and experienced hunter that I was, spent the next half hour staring wide-eyed at the sky above me and waiting for it to stop spinning so I could throw up. Not my proudest moment.

Luckily, I learned from my mistakes and was able to gradually bring down larger and larger animals as I got smarter and faster. Soon, my legs were more muscular and powerful than they ever were back at Pride Rock, and at times I felt strong enough to fend off a rhinoceros if one ever decided to attack me. My muscles weren't the only things that matured out in the Pridelands, though. My vision was sharper thanks to months of constantly scanning the horizon for prey, and my ears could now pick up even the slightest rustle in the grass. The same went for my nose; I had gotten so good at tracking, I could often smell Tama long before he entered my camp if the wind was right.

I had done some growing up out in the wild as well. My voice deepened considerably, and wherever I spoke to Tama it was with a strong teenager's voice instead of the high-pitched tone of a child, though my voice still cracked occasionally to embarrassing effect. My mane still hadn't really begun to grow in yet, but I was beginning to see a few telltale red hairs on the top of my head whenever I looked at my reflection in the river.

My newfound maturity showed itself mentally as well as physically. I learned early on that the grasslands were fairly unforgiving of mistakes, so I trained myself not to make many. The happy-go-lucky, naïve Simba slowly faded into the background as the new, tough-as-nails take-no-crap Simba took precedence. Despite what Tama kept insisting, I was a rogue through and through, and I still wasn't sure if I was comfortable with the idea. Tama always complained that if it weren't for him, I would never see another lion and that I would forget my past. He couldn't have been more wrong.

Not a day went by when I didn't think about the family and friends I had left behind: my mother, the other cubs, and Nala. Especially Nala. Sometimes entire days would pass where I would want nothing more than just to see her again, just to hear her laugh, see her smile, watch the moonlight reflect off her shockingly green eyes. I had never gotten the chance to tell Nala how I really felt about her, and it tortured me to no end how blind I had been when I was a cub. The worst part of it, though, was how slim my chances were of ever getting another chance to talk to her. Tama had said as much when he returned from Pride Rock the day after I killed the ostrich. He wouldn't give me all the details, just that Nala was fine and that she knew I was safe. He refused to say anything else, though, and I was forced to accept that, for whatever reason, she didn't want to see me. Every day since then I've wondered why she would ever choose that path, and every day since then my mind has come up blank.

Because of the distance between Nala and me, I kept her memory alive in the only way I knew how. Nala always had her signature move when we play-fought as cubs: I would jump on her and brace my forepaws on her chest, thinking I had pinned her, only to feel her press her own legs against my stomach and flip me over, pinning me in the process. As the months rolled by in the grasslands, I practiced that move on various animals until I didn't even have to think about it to execute it perfectly. It was my little way of making sure that Nala, and therefore my true home, would always be a part of me. Right now, though, I didn't have time to reminisce. I had bigger things to worry about. Literally.

I was crouched down just outside a small clearing near a local watering hole. For days I'd been trying to take down a particularly stubborn zebra that had managed to escape my attacks time and time again, only to come back to the same watering hole the next day. It was like the zebra was taunting me, and I wasn't going to take it anymore. Besides, I was hungry. It was time to see if I still had a taste for zebra meat after such a long fast from it.

I crouched even lower, my tail twisting slowly behind me. I licked my lips and studied the zebra to see if he had any weak points. There. His left back leg had a long scar running all the way down from the top of his thigh to his hoof, a souvenir of the last time yours truly tried to have a little zebra snack. _He can't be fully healed yet,_ I thought. _Another strike there would cripple him_.

I turned around and padded away, carefully not to make too much noise. Once there was a good distance between me and the zebra, I turned around. The clearing was now hidden behind a wall of brown and green, but I wasn't worried. I knew exactly where my target was, and I was going to need the running start if I wanted to have a clean kill.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, concentrating hard on just breathing in and out. When I opened them again, the world was deathly silent except for my own breathing. This was a skill I had picked up from a leopard I had met one day as I was exploring the grasslands. His name was Tulio, and while I only knew him for a day or so, I still follow most of his advice to the letter. One of the things he told me was about concentration during a hunt.

"If ya take the time to slow down and focus before the kill, you can block out everything that's not important," he had said in his strange manner of speaking that seemed to be a harsher version of Zazu's accent. "The greatest hunters can hear a cricket chirp in a rockslide if they concentrate hard enough."

At first, I thought he was crazy. How could anyone hear anything over the sound of a rockslide? My skepticism went unfounded until Tulio finally convinced me to give it a try, and I was shocked to find that, to an extent, he was right. He might have been exaggerating a bit…okay, a lot about the cricket in the rockslide, but with enough determination I discovered that I could actually manage to completely ignore small noises like birdcalls and the wind rustling the grass that would've otherwise been major distractions. I was putting this new skill to good use now in my current hunt for the zebra.

I took another deep breath, sucking as much oxygen into my lungs as possible so I wouldn't have to slow down in the coming chase. Every muscle and nerve in my body was on edge, and I could feel the adrenaline waiting to break free from its hiding spot in my brain. I breathed out and started counting down.

"Five…four…three…two…one…go."

The instant the last word left my lips, I was off. The wind pressed my ears back against my scalp and brought tears to my eyes, but I had been on so many hunts that I still felt like I was moving in slow motion. I was acutely aware of every rock, branch, and crack in the ground before me, and I dodged with ease anything and everything that might give away my position to my prey.

The zebra never saw me coming. As I burst out of the foliage behind him, I let out a deep snarl, so far the only sound I had made since I began my approach. The zebra whipped his head around, eyes wide in panic, but it was too late. It was much too late.

I slammed into the zebra with every bit of energy I had focused on his injured leg. I smiled to myself as I felt the bone snap with a satisfying crack. The zebra fell to the ground, kicking wildly at his unseen foe, but I skillfully dodged his flailing limbs as I spun around and leapt at his throat, teeth bared. My jaw closed around the zebra's windpipe, and with a last burst of strength I bit down hard. More cracks and pops rang out as the bones in the zebra's neck shattered, and I saw my prey's eyes flicker briefly before finally closing for the last time.

I sat up and closed my eyes again, my muzzle stained a dark maroon color from the zebra's blood. My heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest, and a sense of euphoria permeated my entire body as the adrenaline from the kill coursed through my veins. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. Every color was more vivid, every scent and sound was sharper and crisper. I had never felt more alive and in tune with nature.

Finally, my pulse slowed to its normal rate, and I sighed with contentment. I gazed happily at my latest kill, nearly bursting with pride at the sheer size of it. The zebra was by far the biggest animal I had ever brought down alone, and I felt like I was on top of the world just looking at it. I grabbed the carcass by the tail and began to drag it back towards the cave, eager to show off the kill to Tama whenever he came next. I wasn't used to carrying such a heavy load over such a long distance, though, and by the time I got back to my cave home I was bathed in sweat. I dropped the zebra and sat down hard, trying to catch my breath.

_It'll be worth it to see the look on Tama's face when he brings his little bit of the food stash_, I thought with a grin. Ever since I had been confined to the river caves, Tama had felt like it was his responsibility to steal whatever he could from whatever kills the lionesses at Pride Rock could manage and bring it to me so I wouldn't starve. In the beginning, I had depended entirely on Tama being able to get food for me, and I often went to bed hungry when he couldn't manage to swipe anything. Lately, however, Tama's offerings had gotten steadily smaller as the Pridelands deteriorated under Scar's rule, but I found that I was able to get enough food on my own to not be so reliant on my best friend. Someday I would tell Tama to save the food at Pride Rock for himself and the rest of the pride, but for now I was willing to let him feel like he was helping. It always seemed to give him such satisfaction when he was able to bring me something, and I hated to make him feel useless.

The lazily moving water near the caves felt heavenly against my filthy, sweat-coated fur, and I spent the next half-hour floating in the river, letting all the grime and blood from the day dissipate into the refreshing water. I probably would've stayed longer if I hadn't heard the grass rustle nearby. I stood tall and let the breeze waft through my nose, the river water swirling around my ankles. That was another thing Tulio had taught me. "Don't sniff," he must have said a thousand times. "It brings the scent in too quick and makes it harder to follow. If you want to be a great tracker, breathe in slowly. Let the scent come to you."

Once again, Tulio was right. Every scent stood out more if you allowed it to enter your nose at its own pace, another piece of advice from Tulio that I hadn't expected to be true. I was beginning to lose track of the number of things I learned during my day with Tulio, and I frowned as I flashed back to our first and last moments together...

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**FIVE MONTHS EARLIER**

I had only been living alone for about a month when I met Tulio. I was tracking a rabbit I had stumbled across for a couple hours, and I was close enough to see its whiskers twitch as it swiveled his head around to look for predators. I growled deep in my throat and pounced, only to get a mouthful of rocks and sand as the rabbit hopped away. I spit out the dirt and stared after the rabbit, thoroughly discouraged that I would ever be any good at hunting. As I watched curiously, the rabbit suddenly veered off to the left, as if it had seen something in the bushes that I was unaware of. Before it could take two steps, though, a golden blur was on top of it. The rabbit didn't even have time to scream before the mysterious predator slit its throat with one well-placed claw swipe. The golden animal, which I soon realized was a leopard, studied its kill for a moment, then glanced up and looked in my direction with a gaze that seemed to bore right through me. I panicked and ran, convinced that the leopard wouldn't be satisfied with just the rabbit and would come after me next. My fears were confirmed as something grabbed my tail and yanked it down towards the ground. My back feet flew out from under me, and I fell hard onto the unforgiving rock, scraping my muzzle in the process.

I sprang to my feet quickly and backed away, cowering at the sight of the powerful animal that was observing me with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.

"S-Stay back!" I said, my teeth chattering. "Or I-I'll…"

"You'll what?" the leopard said in his strange accent that was so much like Zazu's but so different at the same time. "Jump on me like you did that rabbit?"

I stopped backing up and went a little pink. "Oh…you saw that?"

The leopard chuckled. "'Twas a bit 'ard not to, laddie, 'specially after the ruckus you made sneakin' up on it."

My fur bristled. "I wasn't being loud!"

The leopard chuckled again. "Oh, you're feisty, ain't cha, little one? Back when I was a wee tyke, we 'ad a special treatment for cheeky little monkeys like you." He unsheathed one of his claws and dragged in along the rock next to him, making a horrible screeching sound as a menacing grin spread across his face. I winced and pawed at my ears, backing away in terror once again. The leopard laughed again at my reaction, but without any of the coldness or evil that I had expected. Instead, it was just normal laughter, and the fear I had felt just seconds before was gone like the wind.

"I'm only foolin' around," the leopard said with a cheesy grin. "What d'you call yourself, little one?"

I debated whether to tell him my real name before I realized that if he were going to do me any harm, he would have done so already. "I'm Simba. Who are you?"

"Tulio's the name. And, if I may ask, where are you from, Simba?" he asked. "'Course, the better question might be: what's a little cub like you doin' all alone out 'ere ?"

I looked down at the ground. "It's a long story…"

The leopard grinned, this time in a friendly way. "Well, I'm not on any tight schedule. Go on, give us the tale."

I smiled. For some reason, talking to Tulio was like talking to an old friend, and I wondered briefly whether I had ever seen him before. I pushed the thought out of my head quickly, though, and I proceeded to tell Tulio everything that had happened to me in the last month, leaving out some of the details about my dad's death, specifically how I was partly to blame for it. I didn't know how Tulio would react if I let that little tidbit slip, and the last thing I wanted to do was chase off my new friend right after I'd met him.

Once I finished, Tulio gazed at me again, his expression unreadable. Finally, he let out a low whistle and looked away.

"That," he said with a sigh, "is quite a story, little one. So you haven't been back 'ome since?"

"No. I can't go back. Scar's still in control of the Pridelands, remember?"

"Aye…think I might have met this Scar fellow once. Skinny bloke, dark fur, mean as a snake and about as cunning?"

I grimaced. "That's him."

Tulio sucked in a breath. "Well, that's certainly a bit o' bad luck ta be 'is nephew. Any plans to go back someday? Duke it out with your dad's killer, get the girl, save the day?"

"Not anytime soon," I said in a small voice. "I'm not anywhere near ready to challenge him yet." I gave Tulio a shy smile and went a bit pink. "I guess that was pretty obvious, huh?"

"That it was, I'm afraid. But it's nothin' that can't be fixed with a little practice, right? Come on. I'll give ya a paw."

My eyes lit up. "Really? Awesome! Where do we start?" I bounded ahead of Tulio, ready to begin my training, when suddenly I felt another yank on my tail. I fell to the ground again as Tulio tripped me the same way he had before. I spit out more dust as Tulio raised one eyebrow.

"Rule number one," he said, his eyes twinkling merrily. "A good yank on the tail'll stop any creature on Earth if ya pull in the right direction."

My face got even redder than before. I was embarrassed that Tulio had stopped me so easily, but that only made me more determined to be better. "How come?" I asked as Tulio let go of my tail.

"Easy. When an animal's runnin', all his power's comin' from his 'ind legs, and all his balance from his tail. Pullin' down on the tail trips up the 'ind legs and destroys that balance, thus takin' away the animal's power. No power…" Tulio grinned as he yanked down on my tail once more, yet again bringing me to the ground. "No runnin'."

I giggled and yanked my tail out of his grasp. "All right, I get it…yank on their tail to stop them from running. What else do you know?"

Tulio raised his eyebrows. "What else? The tail trick's just kiddie stuff! There're all kinds of other things I know about hunting. It's an art form, and it takes a master ta do it all properly."

"Are you a master, Tulio?" I asked, filled with awe for this strange animal.

Tulio grinned and gave me a playful shove. "I'm as close as you're ever gonna get, you little rascal. Now keep up. We've got a lot o' work ta do before you're ready ta go out on your own again."

I spent the rest of the day following Tulio, copying his every move and committing his tips to heart. Tulio had said he wasn't a master, but I was finding it harder and harder to believe him. All day long, he effortlessly caught animal after animal without ever tiring or missing. When the day finally ended, I was sad to see it go. There still seemed to be so much he hadn't told me yet, which made it hurt even more when he told me that he would be leaving that night.

"But…why?" I stammered loudly. "There's still so much I don't know!"

"Simba, ya know everything ya need to. In the end, hunting is still just your instinct against the instinct of your prey, and you've certainly got the advantage there. Ya just needed a couple prods in the right direction, that's all. Besides, I'm a wand'rer. I hardly ever stay in the same place for long."

I was embarrassed to find that I was crying. "But…I don't want you to go," I whimpered.

Tulio pulled me into his forelegs and gave me a gut-busting hug. "'Ey, 'ey, don't be sad...it's not like we're sayin' goodbye forever, is it? We'll see each other again someday. The important thing is that we met in the first place."

Tulio then pushed me out in front of him and put his paw on my shoulder. "Simba, look at me. You've got a lot of promise in ya. I've been able to see it the whole day." He put a paw toe over my lips as I began to argue. "Don't say a word. It's true, no matter what you think otherwise. You're strong, you're brave, and most important of all, you're determined. The only thing missing is confidence."

I finally looked up into Tulio's eyes. "You really think so?"

Tulio snorted. "Think so? I know so, Simba. It's in your blood."

I looked away again. I couldn't let him see my guilt over my father's death, not after all the things he said about me. What would he think of me if he knew?

"I know how ya feel about your dad, Simba," Tulio said quietly.

I looked up in shock. "How did you-"

Tulio held up his paw. "Let's just say I've 'eard an eyewitness account and leave it at that. And even if I 'adn't known beforehand, it's written all over your face. 'As been all day."

I shut my eyes tight to try and block off the tears. "I…I didn't mean to…it was all an accident…"

Tulio sighed deeply. "Simba, I know sometimes it seems like everything is your fault, but someday you'll realize the truth. When that day comes, just know that I believed in ya all along." Tulio smiled that distinctive smile of his once more. "I always 'ave."

My eyes shot open. I looked up at Tulio, who grinned at my confusion. "See ya in another life, brotha," he said with a wink. Then he disappeared into the grasslands without another word.

"W-Wait! Tulio!" I shouted after him, but he was already gone. I looked up at the stars. _He's always believed in me?_, I thought as I stared into the night sky. _But I've only known him for a day!_ I dropped my gaze down to where Tulio has disappeared.

_Or have I?_

------------------------------

**FIVE MONTHS EARLIER**

**Tulio**

I hated to leave Simba all alone like that, but I already had a previous obligation I had to tend to, one that wouldn't wait very long.

I smiled as I glanced back at the tiny figure growing smaller in the distance behind me. Simba had so much of his father in him, it was a wonder his name wasn't Mufasa as well. If only that bloody Scar hadn't gone and taken everything from him, he might have turned out to be a nice little cub and a good leader. Instead, I had just trained him to be a killer.

_No, not a killer_, I reminded myself. _He wouldn't kill anything unless he 'ad to. 'E's too much like Mufasa to ever wrongly take another creature's life._

I sighed and looked away from the scrawny cub sitting behind me, and I couldn't help but worry about the little guy. It wasn't like he'd had any real friends out here in the grasslands. He had told me about that Tama kid, and while he had sounded all right to me, I kept getting the strangest feeling that Simba wasn't telling me everything about his "best friend in the world".

_Or maybe it's Tama that's not telling Simba everything_, I mused for a moment before I shook all thoughts of the day's events out of my mind. I had finally reached my destination, and I would need a clear mind and a steady will for what I was about to do.

I closed my eyes and slowly took in a deep breath, focusing all of my strength on an imaginary point in my mind. When it felt like I couldn't possibly pack any more energy into that point, I let it all out in the form of one singular thought. _I'm 'ere,_ I projected into the great expanse before me. _Mufasa?_

The breeze picked up suddenly, ruffling the fur on the back of my neck. I opened my eyes and looked up at the stars. Several of them seemed to be moving about, not above my head in the heavens but to the ground in front of me. The bright points of light slowly assembled into a brilliant silhouette, and I was forced to look away as the luminous figure grew brighter still. A few seconds later, I chanced another look at the star figure and was relieved to see that it was no longer glowing. Instead, it had taken the shape of someone I had known for many years: Mufasa, former king of the Pridelands and the father of the cub I had spent the whole day with. He was slightly transparent and still a bit shiny about the edges, but he was still the lion I had known since I was a cub.

"Were all the theatrics really necessary?" I asked as I sat down next to the apparition of my old friend. "D'ya have to move the whole sky around ever time you visit me?"

Mufasa laughed. "It's not my decision to make. Besides, I wouldn't have thought you would complain…I'm still standing before you, aren't I?"

I grinned. "I'm only foolin'. I know you do it on purpose." Mufasa laughed, and I joined in for a moment before my grin melted away and my face became somber again. "Actually, there's something we need ta have a talk about," I said. "It's quite important, and I don't think it can wait much longer."

Mufasa's jubilant expression fell away as well. "I think I might have an idea about the subject. It's Simba, isn't it?"

"He still blames 'imself for you dying despite all the evidence to the contrary, and I can't get through to 'im to tell him otherwise. It's like 'e won't listen to reason!"

Mufasa sighed. "I'm aware of my son's feelings, Tulio, and I'm afraid you're right. There isn't anything you can do."

I couldn't help but be aggravated by Mufasa's nonchalant attitude about his own son, especially after I'd spent the whole day feeling sorry for the little guy. "So why aren't ya worried? He keeps that inside of 'im for much longer, it's gonna tear 'im apart! You act like ya don't even care!"

"I do hope you don't mean to suggest that I feel no concern for my son, Tulio," Mufasa said with a significant edge to his voice.

"No, o' course not," I sighed. "But I still don't understand why you don't just go to Simba yourself instead of sending me after 'im. Sure, I taught 'im how to survive and kept 'im company for a bit, but you're his bloody father, for Aiheu's sake! Can't you be the one to tell 'im the truth?"

Mufasa turned to look at me, and I was taken aback by the emotion radiating from his face. It was obvious that it was taking all his self-control not to do exactly what I had suggested. "Sometimes, Tulio, the truth never fully sinks in until one realizes it on their own," Mufasa said quietly. "Of course I could visit my son and explain that I don't blame him for my death, but his guilt would still remain deep inside of him regardless of what I told him. Guilt is a fickle thing, and it is never wholly eradicated until its host no longer believes in it. For that reason, only Simba can rid himself of his shame. Nothing anyone else tries to do will have the same effect." Mufasa's eyes glistened. "That is why I must watch him suffer every day, powerless to aid my own son in even the slightest of ways."

I felt horrible for accusing Mufasa of negligence, and I tried to throw my arm around his shoulders, only to have it fall right through him. Mufasa let out a deep, booming laugh at my attempt to comfort him.

"Right," I said with a grin. "Forgot that doesn't work as well anymore."

Mufasa seemed to glow a little brighter. "Don't worry about me, Tulio, or Simba for that matter. I'll give him a couple nudges in the right direction soon enough. In due time, he will come to forgive himself for what occurred last month."

I grinned again. "You old bastard! You know exactly what's going ta happen, don't ya? I'm just a pawn in your little game!"

Mufasa laughed again and ran off into the grasslands, with me hot on his tail. As I chased after him, he shined a good deal brighter for a moment, then stopped and turned around to face me. Slowly, he began to dissolve into the air around him, once again breaking apart into tiny flickering balls of energy.

"You're only half right, Tulio," Mufasa said, his voice fading constantly. "I have been blessed with a few glances into the future of the Pridelands, but you will certainly be much more than a pawn in the years to come…"

I stared hard into the darkness trying to find the image of my friend, but Mufasa was gone back to…wherever he came from. The spirit world, I suppose. It wasn't any concern of mine, though. I was still alive and raring to travel on to wherever my feet (and my teeth) took me. I turned back once more and said a final farewell to Simba, then I darted off into the never-ending wilderness.

------------------------------

**PRESENT DAY**

**Tama**

I finally reached Simba's camp as the sun reached its zenith in the sky. I skidded to a halt in the middle of his camp

"Simba? Come on, Simba, I gotta talk to you!" I shouted, my head whipping around. Like Simba, I had grown a lot over the past few months as well, and my voice had deepened a lot since I first sent my friend to live in the river caves. My mane, unfortunately, was still more or less nonexistent, but after Simba had bragged that his was bigger I had proven that I had six more dark hairs on my head that he did. After he pinned me to the ground three or four times afterwards, I agreed that it didn't make much of a difference.

I was relieved to finally notice Simba standing in the middle of the river nearby, and I trotted over to him quickly. "Oh, thank the gods I found you quickly," I panted as he stared at me. "Get out and dry off…we've gotta think of a plan for tonight before it's too late!"

Simba did a double take. "A plan? For what? Before it's too late for what?"

"Scar's finally decided to bring back the old law!" I said, the stress I was feeling manifesting in my voice. "He's exiling every cub in the pride tomorrow morning, and we have to get everyone out before he goes through with it!"

Simba's eyes went wide, and I knew he had realized the same thing I had. After the other cubs were exiled, Scar could do whatever he wanted to them. He could have them hunted down and exterminated without anyone getting in the way.

"Okay…just chill out for a second, okay? You look like your head's about to fly off into the Great Beyond," Simba said to me with a worried look in his eyes. I was reluctant to wait any longer to warn the other cubs and find Nala, but I knew that I wasn't going to be any help in this situation if I didn't calm down first. I took a few deep breaths and tried unsuccessfully to release the tension in my back.

"See, you're better already," Simba said with a small smile. "Now, tell me what happened."

I took another deep breath and flashed back to earlier in the day, when I had accidently discovered Scar's latest scheme. I opened my eyes and began my story.

------------------------------

**THREE HOURS EARLIER**

Ever since Scar had taken over Pride Rock, it had become harder and harder to find a quiet place to relax. What were once secluded caves and peaceful watering holes soon became infested with the cackling laughter and rancid stench of hyenas, and it quickly became impossible to get a decent amount of sleep anywhere with all the noise and filth. The lionesses were still allowed to sleep in the den (though some of them weren't exactly excited about the prospect), but any cub that wasn't fully matured was made to sleep under the main promontory of Pride Rock, where there was no shelter from the cold or the wind. The conditions were miserable, but it was certainly better than the alternative of being six feet underground like I had originally feared.

To be honest, I was still confused as to why Scar hadn't done anything about the cubs born during Mufasa's reign yet. I had expected us to be slaughtered or at the very least sent away from Pride Rock forever, but instead it seemed that Scar preferred to pretend that we didn't even exist. The older lionesses still took care of us as best they could, but more and more we were forced to fend for ourselves as our king continued to ignore us. I did my best to hold the group together and keep everyone alive, but by the time nine months had passed in Scar's kingdom we had already lost three cubs to various ailments, including one little cub that starved to death before he was half a year old. I tried to avoid walking near their graves, not out of disrespect but because every thought I had about the dead cubs simply fed the little demon inside of me that begged to make Scar pay in blood for every wrong he had committed. I never gave away my true feelings, though, as I was still apprehensive that Scar would change his mind and decide to do away with all of us. As it turned out, that's exactly what I ended up doing, though I didn't realize it at the time.

It was a blissfully warm day in a string of bitterly cold ones. The sky was still overcast, but a few faded rays of sunlight shone through the clouds occasionally. I was looking forward to the prospect of finally getting to lounge around in the warm climate again, but of course nothing in Scar's kingdom would ever be that simple. I was around the back of Pride Rock trying to find the cave that Nala had shown me the night of Mufasa's death. She had recently given me permission to use it whenever I wanted, but I soon discovered that I had no idea where the damn thing even was. I searched for at least an hour, steadily growing more frustrated with myself and, for some strange reason, Nala. Finally, I noticed a small hole in the huge rock face that served as our home, and I quickly squeezed inside, glad to have found Nala's secret hiding spot at last.

_Was the tunnel this long before?, _I wondered as my head bumped against the ceiling for the umpteenth time. _And since when was there light at the end of it?_ It had begun to dawn on me that I may have stumbled upon a different tunnel entirely when a low voice echoed through the hole in the rock. I was both terrified and intrigued when I realized that I could hear Scar talking to someone at the other end of the cave, and eventually my curiosity won out. I pressed onward to see what lay at the backlit far end, and sure enough, the tunnel opened up into the rear of the lion's den, where Scar was holding counsel with one of his hyenas. I crouched low and eavesdropped as the hyena spoke for the first time since I arrived.

"I don't know why you'd want to wait so long, your majesty," the hyena said in a low voice. "If it were me in charge, I'd have kicked those cubs out months ago."

"How interesting…though I'm afraid you're not in charge, Sajini," Scar replied. "I am."

"I'm not sayin' I am, Scar. I'm just advisin' you on what I would do."

"I'm aware of that. You've been 'advising' the same thing for months now. And as I've said for months now, it's not necessary."

"But soon it will be! The older males are almost fully grown; it'd be suicide to allow them to stay any longer!"

"You really think they'd attack? After all I've done for them?"

The hyena scowled and seemed to backtrack a bit. "It's not _your_ fault exactly, sire…every kingdom has a couple sour grapes who have a bone to pick with the king, and I'm sure yours is no different."

"Mmm, yes, I suppose that would be a problem…but then again, when have any of the older cubs ever spoken against me? I was under the impression that they wished to join my ranks after they were fully grown."

"True, sire, but it's not them I'm talking about," the hyena said with a glare. "It's that little rat Tama."

My heart skipped a beat as the hyena mentioned me. _But why? What did I do?_, I wondered. I bit my lip in horror as another thought sprang to mind: _Does he know about Simba?_ I was absolutely frozen with terror until I realized that Scar was speaking again.

"How so?" Scar asked, absentmindedly stroking his chin with a faint gleam of curiosity shining in his eyes.

"He was Simba's best friend aside from that other brat, oh, what's-her-name…"

"Nala?"

"Yeah, Nala. Once you ran Simba off, Tama more or less took over the prince's position of power among the cubs. I must have seen him a dozen times breaking up fights and keepin' the peace down in that drafty underpass you coop them up in. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if he's planning an uprising against you as we speak. It ain't no secret he has no respect for you at all. I'd advise you deal with him sooner rather than later."

_Damnit!,_ I cursed inside my head. _I've gotta get out of here!_

I slowly began to shimmy around in the tunnel so I could crawl back out and escape. Suddenly, I heard Scar speak again, and Sajini's answer made my blood run cold.

"So, I should exile him?" Scar proposed.

"Not just him," answered Sajini. "All of them."

I was rooted to the spot. My worst fears were finally coming true.

"Except, of course, those who agree to join me."

"Exactly. Without any of the cubs in the way, there'll be no resistance against your rule. We'll have peace at last."

For an impossibly long moment, Scar was silent. Then his lips parted, and my worst nightmare finally came that.

"All right, I've made my decision," he said coldly. "Make sure none of the cubs leave tonight. We'll make the announcement in the morning."

"It shall be done, your majesty."

Somehow, I found the strength to move again. I crawled as fast as I could out of the tunnel, not even noticing the scratches and bruises I received from bumping into the tunnel wall. After what seemed like an eternity, I popped out into the sun again and sucked in a huge breath, grateful to finally be out of the confined space. Before I could even catch my breath, though, Scar's order hit me full force, and a new wave of panic and fear rolled over me. I had to go _now_. But where?

I quickly came up with a plan. The river caves would be a perfect place for myself and the other cubs to hide out for the time being…provided that Simba let us in. With a jolt, I remembered Simba and realized that he would be extremely helpful to have on our side in the coming escape. He was both quick thinking and quick on his feet, two traits that would be invaluable in the next few hours. Without a second thought, I spun on my heels and sprinted off in the direction of Simba's hideaway. I couldn't afford to waste another second.

------------------------------

**PRESENT DAY**

**Simba**

"And so here I am," Tama finished with a sigh. "Now can we please go?"

I stared blankly at my best friend. He had been talking so fast, I had barely been able to understand a word he said.

"Um…could you maybe repeat the part about the exiling and the cubs and…all that stuff?" I asked, still confused about what exactly was going on.

Tama looked annoyed. "Were you even listening?"

"Does it count as listening if I couldn't understand a word of it?"

Tama let out an exasperated groan. "Okay, fine, here's the short version: Scar's kicking out all the cubs in the kingdom. We let him do that, they all die, including me. I need you to help me help them escape." He stopped with another sigh and glared at me. "You want me to go over it again?"

"Nope, I think I got it that time, thanks…" I replied weakly. "Why me, though? I wasn't any good with little kids even before I spent nine months in total isolation. How much help do you really think I'll be?"

Tama laughed. "Well, first of all, hardly any of them are what you'd call 'little' anymore. And second, don't worry about not getting through to them. I'm sure Nala can…" Tama's smile quickly faded, and he slapped his paw over his eyes and groaned. "_Nala!_ She's out on her first hunt today! She won't be back until tomorrow!"

Any thoughts of the other cubs were thrown from my mind the instant I heard that. I couldn't let Nala be exiled. No one should ever have to suffer my fate, especially Nala.

"Do you have any idea where they were headed?" I asked as I strode out of the water and shook the water out of my fur. "Maybe we can find her."

Tama laughed again, a little cruelly in my opinion. "Forget finding her! It's just her and her mother wandering in the grasslands…they could be anywhere by now!"

I set my jaw and brushed past Tama. "I'll find them," I said, not looking at Tama. "I'll track her down if I have to."

Tama looked at me skeptically. "Can you do that?"

I turned around and stared. "Do I have another choice?" I asked. I was gone before he could answer.

* * *

Yeah, I know not much happened there...but it did set up the next chapter, which is where the main story really begins to take off. Watch for the next chapter soon and review!

For those of you who picked up on Tulio's quote...yeah, I'm a Lost junkie. Plus Desmond was and still is a totally awesome character.

(If the constant reminders are getting annoying, you could always stop them by, I don't know...listening to them? It seriously takes two seconds, and I'll love you forever and ever. Thanks to everyone that has reviewed so far, though.)

* * *


	5. Chapter 4: The Reunion

**Chapter 4: The Reunion**

**Simba**

**"**So how's that tracking thing going, Simba?"

I glared at Tama. We'd been out in the grasslands all day trying to find Nala, so long that the sun was beginning to set on the horizon to my left, and Tama was quickly growing more and more impatient.

"It'd be a lot easier if you didn't keep interrupting," I grumbled as Tama rolled his eyes.

"Well, excuse me for not brimming over with confidence," Tama grumbled back. "We've been out here how long now?"

"Look, if you're so damn worried about everyone else, you can head back anytime!"

"You know what? Maybe I will!"

"Fine! Have fun busting everybody out by yourself!"

Tama rolled his eyes again. "Sure thing, _pal_," he said with as much sarcasm as he could muster. "Or I could just go jump off a cliff real quick and get the same result."

I whipped around and faced Tama again, my heart pounding and my eyes narrowed. "What the hell is your problem? I never said I'd take two steps and then point to where she was! Tracking takes time!"

"We don't _have_ time, Simba!" Tama snapped back. "I don't know if you picked up on it earlier, but if we don't do something big by tomorrow morning, we're all dead, not just Nala."

"So you're just gonna write her off, then?"

Tama glanced away for a moment and blew out an exasperated sigh. "Simba, you're acting like I don't even care about Nala! I do! Why do you think I followed you out here in the first place?"

"Because it fit in with your master plan, that's why!" I spat. "We're all just little pieces of the puzzle to you, aren't we?!"

Tama had me pinned on my back almost before I saw him move, and before I knew it he was standing over me with a paw on my chest and absolute rage in his eyes. When he spoke, it was in a seething whisper that sent chills down my spine.

"Do you have _any idea_ what I've been through in the past nine months?" he hissed, every word seeming to drive straight into my heart. "I've watched three cubs die under my watch because your uncle wouldn't spit on us if the whole goddamn grasslands were on fire. I've had to risk my own neck a hundred times over to keep your sorry ass from starving, all while having no clue whether I'd even wake up the next morning to do it all over again. I've been putting the whole pride ahead of me for almost half my life, and for all that time I've wanted nothing more than to just get one freaking day to take care of myself. But I can't, because there's always something for the leader to do. There's always something I have to fight against alone, and _I can't take it anymore!_"

Tama was practically screaming by the time he reached the climax of his speech, and I was sure that his claws were going to punch right through the grungy fur on my chest if he didn't calm down soon. But there was no calming him down now, and I was terrified, not only of my friend's rage but also because deep down in my heart I knew he was right. I _had_ left him alone for far too long, and I had never seen any of his pain or hardship because I was too busy living large out in the wild. I was disgusted at how selfish I had been, and another shiver crept down my back when it dawned on me that I might have finally given Tama more than he could handle.

Tama's voice fell to a normal volume again, and though his voice remained level I could see his eyes start to water. "And then, after almost a year of making me watch as my world fell apart around me, you have the _audacity_ to say that I don't care about you? That I don't care about any of you?" Tama's grip on my chest tightened, and I had to bite down hard to keep from crying out as his claws punctured my skin. Tama leaned in close, his nose almost touching mine and a world of pain in his eyes. "You don't know the half of it," he whispered so quietly I barely heard him. It didn't matter. The words still cut through me a hundred times better than any claw or tooth ever could.

Finally, I broke. My first strangled sob seemed to snap Tama out of his rage as if I had slapped him. "No, I don't!" I blubbered, all self-control gone. "And I'm sorry! You've done everything for me and I've done nothing for you, and I'm _sorry!_"

Tama seemed to stare right through me, and I closed my eyes, fully expecting him to shove me away at any second. Instead, he slowly relaxed his death grip on my chest, and I coughed painfully, somehow feeling lightheaded and a thousand pounds heavier at the same time.

I didn't move for the longest time. I couldn't hear Tama walk away, but I knew he was gone, and that it was all my fault. I had neglected him for so long, it was a miracle he hadn't run off on me sooner. How could I have ever done that to my best friend, the one who had kept me alive and sane on Aiheu knew how many hard nights? I sobbed harder. I had thought I was alone before. Tama was right. I didn't know the half of it.

After what felt like forever, I cracked one eye open. The blurry world that appeared before me was flipped onto its side, and I realized that I had rolled over after Tama had let go of me. Tama. My best friend that I had known my whole life. My best friend that I had abused for my whole life. My best friend that I would never see again.

My best friend that was still standing in front of me?

I shut my eyes again. "I don't blame you for hating me, Tama," I said in a weary voice. "You were right about me. All I've ever done is drag you down."

Tama didn't say a word, and as my eyelids cracked open once more I saw him bite his lip. Instead of being angry like I had expected, he just looked sad. "Simba, I don't want to hate you," he said quietly. "I…I just feel so trapped right now. Everyone back home, they trust me, and I don't even know if I can live up to that trust. All the cubs think I'm this big, confident leader, but it's all fake! I try to please them all, I try to keep it together, but inside I'm just ready to explode. And then, when you said I didn't care about any of you…I lost it. It was bound to happen sometime, and you just...you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's not your fault."

"_It is my fault!_" I shouted as I got to my feet a little unsteadily. "It's all my fault! I don't even know why you're still here! Why don't you run away and never look back? Aiheu knows you've earned the right!"

Tama sighed and looked away for a moment. "I don't really know why I flipped out a minute ago. I know this sounds crazy, but sometimes when I get really stressed out, I just…disappear for a while. I don't even remember most of what I do, but it's always something bad." Tama's voice got quieter. "Like right now."

I stared blankly at my best friend. "But…where do you go?" I asked.

Tama closed his eyes and bit his lip. "I don't know…every time it happens, it feels like someone else is controlling me. Something evil…" Tama stood up suddenly and walked away. "Sometimes I even hurt the people I love the most…and it's still me that's thinking these things! There's a part of me that really does feel like that, and I hate it! I hate trying to live a normal life knowing that I'm just one smart comment away from turning into this horrible monster!"

I was shocked into silence. Twin dark stripes were stretching down from Tama's eyes, even though he had done nothing wrong. He had every right to be angry at me, but he still felt guilty about it. I didn't know what to do.

After a few seconds, Tama calmed down a bit, and as the tear tracks slowly began to dry up he cleared his throat loudly and turned to face me. He was obviously trying to remain stone-faced, but it wasn't working too well.

"Simba, I don't remember what I said to you, but whatever it was, I didn't mean it," he said with a desperate edge to his voice. "You're like…the brother I never had."

I laughed coldly. "Some brother I've been…"

Tama grinned, but sincerely instead of sarcastically. "You don't know how right you are. You drive me totally insane ninety percent of the time, but I know that you'd never do anything to hurt me. At least, not on purpose. And the same goes for me. I forgot that for a couple minutes back there, and I'm sorry. I won't make that mistake again."

I grinned feebly back. "And I won't make the mistake of ignoring you again. The scar on my chest should see to that."

Tama glanced down at the four tiny red cuts in my chest, and his jaw dropped open in horror. "Did I do that?" he whispered. "Simba, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it was the only way you could get through to me," I replied with a sly grin. "I'm a rogue now, remember? We learn everything through pain."

Tama rolled his eyes. "You are so full of crap, Simba."

My grin widened. "I wouldn't want to be anything else."

My chest still stung a bit, but I didn't care. I had my best friend back. That was all I cared about. I closed my eyes as all the crazy things I had done with my "brother" flashed before my eyes: pushing each other into lakes, playing tag until neither of us could move, watching the sun sink lower in the sky as that blissful earthy scent hung heavy in the air…

My eyes shot open. What was that last memory doing there? Now that I thought about it, I couldn't remember any time I had watched a sunset with anybody, let alone Tama. Then that was that earthy smell, so familiar but so foreign at the same time. I hadn't smelled anything like that since before I was exiled. But what the heck was it? I closed my eyes again and searched back through the memory, taking in every detail. I saw the fading golden light in front of me and the vivid rainbow of colors painted on the clouds. I heard the grass rustle around me as a warm breeze blew through my fur. I took a deep breath and felt the scent of wildflowers flit through my senses, the heady aroma meshing together perfectly with that intoxicating earthy smell that I still couldn't quite place. Then I saw something twitch out of the corner of my eye, and as the earthy scent washed over me once more my past self turned his head and smiled at a light tan cub sitting next to me.

A beautiful light tan cub.

A beautiful light tan cub with impossibly green eyes.

_Nala._

I inhaled deeply, Tulio's lessons utterly forgotten. The same earthy scent floated through my nose once more, sending my head spinning. Nala's scent. She was close.

"Wait, where are you going? _Hey!_" Tama yelled after me as I galloped away, intent on finding the source of that aroma. A constant stream of memories played behind my eyes as I ran, all underlaid by Nala's overpowering scent. I was three months old, yawning as Nala sunbathed beside me. I was a year and six months old, running towards something I was both terrified and exhilarated to see. I jumped over a fallen branch. I laughed as Nala got stuck under a tree root. I sprinted harder. Nala grinned. I panted as I flew through the grasslands. I panted as I stared back at the hyenas chasing us.

_"Oh, no you don't!"_

A hundred pebbles flew into the air as I skidded to a halt. For a single moment, my memories and the world around me matched perfectly. In my head, Nala swiped at me, her face splattered with mud that I had just splashed on her. Somewhere nearby, her voice rang out again from behind the grass, so close it felt like she was standing next to me. I wanted to keep going, but no matter how hard I tried my legs wouldn't budge an inch. How could I have come so far to freeze up here?

_It's just Nala!_, I told myself over and over again. _It's just Nala!_

Tama finally caught up with me before I could make a decision. He stood behind me and panted, staring at me with a mixture of annoyance and confusion.

"What was that all about?" he asked in an slightly annoyed voice. "You took off like you'd seen a ghost! Don't tell me you're still…" Tama trailed off as a loud thump sounded off somewhere beyond the spot where my paws seemed to be frozen to the ground. I heard Nala curse and grumble to herself, and given the look on Tama's face, he did too.

"You found her? You _actually _found her?" he said, shaking his head and grinning. "You're unbelievable!"

His praise fell on deaf ears. "Do you think she'll even recognize me?" I wondered out loud.

"Of course she…will..." Tama glanced at my disheveled fur and newly toned muscles and his grin vanished. "Okay, we might have a problem here."

Suddenly, I was struck with an idea. I knew one thing that was sure to get her attention. All I needed was an opportunity. And a good running start.

I smiled and turned around to face Tama. "Don't worry about it," I assured him. "I think I can fix that problem."

For a moment, Tama looked like he wanted to argue, but all he did was raise his eyebrows and step aside to let me pass.

"I trust you," he said with a sigh. "Whatever you're gonna do is probably totally insane, but I'm sure it's just crazy enough to work."

I laughed. "You sure you're not my real brother?"

Tama raised his eyebrows. "Pretty darn," he said with a grin. "If I was, I'd be going with you. Now go, before I change my mind and make you do something rational instead."

I laughed again, and ran past Tama without a second glance. He was right, of course. My idea was totally insane. But somehow I knew that it would work. After all, I'd been practicing for it for months without even realizing it. _I just hope Nala hasn't forgotten me entirely, _I thought as the wind pushed my ears flat against my skull.

* * *

**Nala**

"Damnit, damnit, _damnit!_"

"Nala, don't be so hard on yourself," my mother said as I glared at the quickly fading rabbit I had almost caught. "Most lionesses don't even get close to catching anything on their first hunt."

"Yeah, but I _had _that one! If I had just…_grrr_! I hate this!"

My mother sighed. She couldn't understand why I was so competitive. She hadn't seen how Uruzi had looked at me before we left. If I couldn't catch anything, that smug little rhymes-with-witch would never let me hear the end of it.

"Come on, Nala," my mother continued as she nudged me back towards the path. "You're exhausted. Maybe you'll get something in the morning."

I growled deep in my throat and turned around to follow her. "I'd better," I grumbled. "I want to be able to walk into the Undercroft tomorrow with a big juicy rabbit and shove it right in her pretty little…" I trailed off as my mother stopped and turned to face me, her eyebrows arched.

_Crap. I shouldn't have said that._

"Rub it in whose face?" Mom asked in a voice that expected to be answered.

I looked down at my toes and swallowed hard, my face burning. "Nobody…"

"You seem awfully worked up about this nobody."

"It's not like she's even any good at hunting!" I complained loudly. "She thinks she's so amazing, with her big long eyelashes and those stupid flowers she keeps rubbing all over herself…"

Comprehension dawned on my mother's face. "Are you talking about Uruzi?"

"I…" I stuttered before giving in. "Yes, I'm talking about her," I admitted quietly. "Just don't tell anyone, okay?"

Mom rubbed against me. "Don't worry about her. She's just jealous that you're so much stronger than her."

I groaned and rolled my eyes. "If I had a field mouse for every time you've said that…"

"We'd never go hungry again. I know. That doesn't mean it's not true."

I sighed and looked away. "Yeah, but what does it matter? Everyone's all over her because she's so _glamorous_, and I'm just…normal."

My mother scoffed. "Not the way I see it. Tama seems to like you all right."

I rolled my eyes. "Tama's just a friend. Besides, that wasn't what I was talking about."

"_Ah, oui...l__'amore_," my mom gushed sarcastically as she put a paw on her chest and pretended to swoon. "When one's thoughts turn to roses and romance and that burning passion that drives men to madness…"

I giggled. "You're so weird, mom."

Mom grinned as her eyebrows shot up again. "You're not so average yourself, kiddo...which is what I keep trying to tell you. It's not a bad thing to be headstrong."

I rolled my eyes again, but deep down I guess I knew she was right. "If you say so," I said with a smile to match Mom's.

"Glad to see I finally got through to you," she replied with another friendly nudge. "Now come on, you'll need some rest if you want to have something to show off when we get back tomorrow."

Mom didn't notice me stop until she was several paces ahead of me. She turned around, a hint of concern spreading across her face. "Nala?" she asked quietly. "You okay?"

"Look at that one," I whispered excitedly as I eyed the frail-looking rabbit cleaning itself twenty feet away. "I wouldn't even have to break a sweat to get him. Let me try one more time. Please?" I flashed my best disarming smile and prayed that I'd get one more chance to prove myself before the day was over.

My mother rolled her eyes and answered my prayers. "It's all right with me. Don't take too long. And remember to meet me back at the tree we agreed on earlier."

I nodded absentmindedly, already hidden in the shrubbery behind my latest target. I hadn't really been paying attention. I couldn't afford to break my concentration now. There was no way I was letting this one get away.

"You're mine, furball," I muttered before I jumped out from my hiding spot. The rabbit's eyes widened, and he hopped off as fast as his little legs could carry him. It wasn't fast enough, though. I was gaining on him every second. This time, I would get a kill.

I opened my jaws and pounced. The rabbit tripped and fell, his eyes huge with fear.

I didn't even see the yellow blur next to me until it slammed into my left side at full speed and knocked the breath right out of my lungs. As I rolled away with the strange creature on top of me, I saw the rabbit scramble to its feet and take off, disappearing in just a few short seconds. Another kill gone, all because of this idiot attacking me. My eyes narrowed. He had no idea who he was messing with.

I snarled and dug the claws on my right paws into the clay beneath my feet, stopping my roll without warning. My attacker slid off my back with a yell, and half a second later I had him pinned to the ground, my left forepaw gripped tight around his throat. He stared up at me with a strange expression on his face as I glowered back down at him, more than ready to rip his head clean off.

"Who the _hell_ do you think you are?" I growled at him. "What are you doing?"

The lion (I had finally realized that was what he was) didn't say anything. Instead, he just grinned and squirmed a bit. Suddenly, two powerful paws shoved into my stomach, and before I knew it I was flying through the air with a surprised yell, my paw slipping off his neck as I was thrown forward. I landed hard on my back a couple feet away, my captor following me the whole way down. Now this strange lion had me pinned, that stupid smug grin still on his face.

It was bad enough that this idiot went and ruined my hunt. It was even worse that I'd probably have a bruise in my side the size of a warthog for a week. But then he had to go and pin me to the ground like he was king of the whole Pridelands. With my own freaking move.

"That's what I'm doing," he said, his superior smirk now matched with an amused look in his eyes. He was enjoying this.

"Hey! That's my move!" I complained in a much higher voice than normal. "Get off me!"

The lion laughed. "What can I say?" he remarked as his grin widened. "I learned from the best."

Where had I seen this guy before? He looked about my age, and there was something incredibly familiar about that cheeky grin. I furrowed my brow and tried to remember.

"Do I know…" I began, then I trailed off. Recognition had taken my breath away.

"Simba?"

He grinned again. "Didja miss me?" he replied. "Hope I didn't scare you too bad." It had to be him. No one else would be brave enough (or stupid enough) to tackle me and then tease me about it. I was gonna get him for that, just as soon as my brain came back and allowed me to form a coherent thought.

"But…you…you're…" I sputtered before clamping my jaws shut and flushing bright red. My tongue felt like it was stuck to the roof of my mouth. What was wrong with me?

Simba raised his eyebrows. "Dead? Yeah, that's what everyone seems to think. Crazy, huh?"

"Yeah…" I sighed, still finding it hard to believe that someone I had thought was dead for half my life was standing on my chest. But then suddenly it all sank in at once, and my face split into an impossibly wide grin. Simba was alive. My best friend in the whole world was _alive_.

"Jerk!" I laughed as I smacked Simba in the leg with the same paw I had just wrapped around his throat a moment before.

Simba flinched and looked confused. "What? What did I do?" he asked frantically, his cheesy grin gone.

"Why didn't you tell me you were alive?" I continued with another giggle as he rubbed the spot where I had hit him with his other foreleg. Simba sighed with relief after hearing that. He must have thought I really was mad at him. Before he could answer, though, a different voice rang out.

"Probably because I already told you, like, eight times." Tama answered as he appeared from behind a nearby boulder. "Turns out it pays to listen to me sometimes."

"So you did see him," I said quietly, my heart sinking suddenly as I realized how long I hadn't believed him. "Oh gods, I can't believe you put up with me all this time..."

"It's fine," he replied with a smile. "You know the truth now, and that's all that matters."

"Good," I said as I turned back up to Simba. Now that I looked at him, I wasn't surprised I hadn't recognized him at first. His fringe was much bigger now, and he was much better built than the roly-poly cub I had last seen nine months ago. His eyes were still the same, though: deep auburn in color, with a tiny spark behind them that seemed to jump around whenever he was excited. The spark was practically doing backflips right now.

"I'm so happy you're alive," I murmured, mesmerized by the dancing light in his eyes.

Simba grinned. "I'm happy that you're happy," he replied in a warm tone.

For a long time, neither of us said anything. We just stared into each other's eyes and wished we never had to stop. I would've been embarrassed, except my mind had decided to go on vacation for a while after it recognized Simba. I didn't miss it much as I would've thought.

"Oh, geez…look at the sun," Tama groaned.

Simba looked up, and the moment was gone. I sighed and tried to hide my disappointment. I wanted to see that spark again, that little point of light that made me go all woozy. I tilted my head backwards and looked where Tama was pointing. Through my upside-down view of the world, it looked like the bottom of the sun was peeking out from behind the horizon. Simba and Tama both looked a bit panicked, but I couldn't figure out why.

"Yeah, it's setting," I said loudly, a little peeved at Tama for interrupting. "It tends to do that a lot. Why does it matter?"

Simba looked down at me again. "Do you have any idea what's going on at Pride Rock right now?"

"No, but I'm guessing you're about to tell me," I replied, still not comprehending what was going on at all.

"Scar's gonna exile every cub in the pride tomorrow morning," Tama said quickly, jumping into our conversation. "We need you to help us sneak them away."

I still didn't really get it. "So, you're avoiding exile by…leaving?"

"Once you're exiled, Scar could do whatever he wants to you," Simba added. "He could kill all of you guys and no one would be the wiser."

_Now_ I understood, though I wasn't sure if I wanted to. My heart pounded faster as I realized what would have happened to me if Simba hadn't found me. I would have gone back in the morning to find half the pride gone. I would have been hunted down. I bit my lip again and tried to stay calm.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, a hint of fear still creeping into my voice despite my best efforts to keep it hidden.

"First of all, calm down," Simba said. "You'll be fine now that we found you."

"No, I won't be fine!" I countered, more fear making my voice quiver a bit. "I'm not supposed to go back until tomorrow! You guys will be long gone by then!"

"What if you went back tonight?" Tama suggested. "Can't you just end the hunt early?"

"It doesn't work like that!" I groaned. "It's tradition for the mother and daughter to stay the night out in the grasslands! We can't cut it short!"

"What if you got hurt?" Simba said suddenly in a serious voice.

I thought Tama's eyes were going to pop out of his skull. "Whoa, back up, Simba! We don't have to go that far…."

Simba stared back at Tama. "Are you crazy? I would never really hurt her…I'm just saying, what if she pretended to sprain her paw or something?"

Tama looked relieved, as well as a bit embarrassed about his reaction. "Oh, yeah, of course you wouldn't really…that might work." He laughed nervously and then sat down hard, the corner of his lip clamped between his teeth and his face going a little pink.

"Yeah, that might work, Simba," I said, trying desperately to keep a straight face after seeing Tama's red one. "I'll give it a try when I go back. Where should I meet you guys once I get there?"

"In front of the Undercroft," Tama answered. "Around midnight. I'll have everyone ready to leave by then. Once Simba gets there, he'll lead us back to the river caves and we'll figure out what to do next from there."

"Okay…sounds good, I guess." I looked up at Simba again. "You mind letting me up now, Simba?"

"Oh, right…" Simba muttered as he realized he was still holding me down. He backed off and rubbed his shoulder again. "Serves you right for hitting me, though."

I grinned. "You'll forgive me eventually," I said quietly. "I'll see you tonight."

He grinned back, and for some reason my heart skipped a beat. "See you tonight," he replied. With that, he turned to walk away, and I sighed as I watched him melt back into the grass behind Tama. Suddenly, I remembered something.

"Hey, Simba?" I called out after him.

He stopped about fifteen feet away and slowly turned around, a strange smile stretching across his face. I don't know what he was expecting, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't me tackling him with all the force I could muster. He yelled in surprise as I rolled under him and kicked hard up into his stomach, flipping him onto his back. When the dust cleared, Simba was wheezing on the ground under me, my paws planted firmly on his chest.

"No one uses that move but me," I said smugly, my nose an inch from his. "_No one._ Got it?"

The now yellowish-brown lion trapped beneath my paws nodded weakly, and I grinned as I slowly let him up. Hey, I couldn't let have all the fun, could I?

Simba coughed and stared at me after he picked himself up off the ground, his formerly bright yellow fur coated with dust. "You have got to be the craziest girl I have ever met," he declared as he stood there panting, a smile slowly forming on his dirt-streaked face.

I walked closer to him. "I'll take that as a compliment," I whispered as I rubbed my head briefly under his neck. Simba went stiff, and as I walked away I could see his little spark spin circles out of the corner of my eye. I smiled to myself and left him standing there. I would've loved to stay for a while longer, but I knew time was something we no longer had the luxury of wasting. Besides, I had an injury to fake.

* * *

**Simba**

Once I remembered what my name was and why I was standing in the middle of nowhere with a goofy grin spread across my face, I turned around and went to figure out where Tama had run off to. After a few minutes, I found him lying on top of a boulder, watching a large lioness that was spread out under a tree several yards away. He glanced in my direction as he heard me walk up behind him.

"Where were you?" he asked as I flopped down next to him.

"Nala had something else she wanted to tell me," I said with a furtive smile. Tama turned and stared at me for a moment, then shook his head and dropped the subject.

"Who are we watching?" I asked, eager for a change in topic.

"Nala's mother, Sarafina," he replied without looking at me. "I think this is where she and Nala were supposed to stay for the night. Now all we need to do is wait for Nala to show up." A loud rustling in the grass made Sarafina stand up, and Tama smiled. "And there she is. Here's hoping this is convincing."

Nala limped into the clearing as Tama fell silent, and if I hadn't known better I would have sworn she really was hurt. Her left forepaw hung loosely at her side, and she grimaced and groaned as she hopped over to where her mother was standing.

"Nala? Oh, Nala, what happened?" Sarafina said worriedly as she ran up to her daughter.

"Stupid tricky little sonuva…" Nala muttered as she sat down and held her supposedly injured paw close to her side. "I was so close until I kicked that rock. I can't believe I let another one get away!"

"Where does it hurt?" Sarafina asked as she gently took hold of Nala's paw. Nala yelped in pain and yanked it back, biting her lip and blinking hard. I let out a low whistle. Nala was doing an amazing job of faking a broken paw.

"I'm sure it'll be fine in the morning…" Nala whispered in a strained voice.

"Rubbish. You can't hunt in that condition. Come on, we're going back to Pride Rock."

Nala's face fell. "No! Please don't make me go back early!" she begged. "I'm fine, really!" Nala put her paw down and nearly fell over, her face contorted in extremely convincing agony. She looked up and grinned at her unconvinced mother. "Really…"

"Let's go, Nala," Sarafina said sternly. "We can finish the hunt some other time. I want Rafiki to take a look at your paw."

Sarafina set up with Nala slouching behind her muttering constantly about how stupid she was for getting tripped up by "a little pebble". As she passed by our hiding spot, Nala glanced up quickly to make sure her mother wasn't looking, then winked in our direction before limping faster to catch up with her mother. Tama watched her go with an impressed look.

"Wow," he said after Nala and Sarafina had disappeared. "Your girlfriend's a really good actress, Simba." I stared at him, eyebrows raised, and he pulled his lips tight. "Ooh, that came out, didn't it?"

"Yeah, it did," I replied dryly.

"Sorry about that."

"It's fine."

"I mean, the way you guys were looking at each other, I just thought…"

"It's cool."

"So no plans or anything?"

"Not a one."

"Gonna take it slow? Wait for a while before you go anywhere?"

"Mm-hm."

"Okay, then."

Tama was silent for a moment, then he looked over at me again. "Still…"

"_Stop talking._"

"Sorry."

Tama fell silent again, and after a while I yawned and stretched.

"Well, you'd better get back to Pride Rock," I said as I stood up. "I'll meet you and Nala outside at midnight, like we planned."

"All right...bye, then," Tama said. There was another awkward silence, and I could tell Tama was beginning to worry about that night again. I put a friendly paw on his shoulder and smiled.

"It'll be fine," I assured him. "Every one of those cubs worships the ground you walk on. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks," Tama said, a thin smile finally cracking through his mask of cool confidence. "It means a lot to hear you say that. A lot more than you'd think."

I grinned wider. "Hey, what are brothers for? Now get moving. You should beat Nala home by a couple hours if you hurry."

"Okay, then. See ya at midnight." Tama disappeared into the grasslands, and soon after I headed off toward my own home, nervous but also excited about what we were going to do. Once again, I was totally confident that everything would work perfectly, and that Tama's plan was foolproof. Scar wouldn't even notice us leaving.

Except this time, I couldn't have been more wrong.

* * *

Well, Nala's back into the story again, this time for good. I hope you're happy. And yes, Uruzi is one of the several cubs I mentioned living back at Pride Rock, one that will have a very interesting role in the later chapters...

As excited as I am about continuing this story, I'm afraid I'm going to have to postpone it for a while. On Sunday (June 28th), I'm leaving for a weeklong overnight summer camp where I will have no access to the Internet or even a computer. This means that unless I pull off some kind of miracle in the next two days, this is the last chapter that will be posted until at least July 4th. I promise I'll get right back on it then, though.

I'm going to take a different approach to begging for reviews this time. I know everybody always puts the big "REVIEW PLEASE" sign in the description, and they each have their reasons. Some want to be showered with praise while others want to get new story ideas. I, on the other hand, just want to know what people honestly think about my talents as a writer. As I said in the foreword, my dream is to write creatively for a living, and this is my first real attempt at doing so. I don't just want feedback; I need it. If you like a particular section, character, or chapter: review. If you hate a particular section, character, or chapter: review. If you just want to make a random comment: review. Please, guys. I wouldn't beg like this unless I really meant it. Thank you in advance for (hopefully) responding to my pleas.

* * *

I was in the middle of writing this chapter when I heard about Michael Jackson. I know his life has gotten pretty weird in the past few years and a lot of people hate him for the child molestation allegations, but I still respect him as one of the greatest entertainers of all time, as well as one hell of a dancer. And you should too.

R.I.P. MJ...MAY WHEREVER YOU ARE NOW BE FILLED WITH DANCING ZOMBIES, FEDORAS, AND NO GRAVITY.


	6. Chapter 5: The Break

**Chapter 5: The Break**

**Simba**

I tried to get some rest after I got back to the river caves, but sleep wouldn't come no matter how hard I tried. The prospect of returning to Pride Rock after so long was both exhilarating and terrifying, and every time I closed my eyes they would just snap open again a moment later. As midnight neared, the rut forming under my feet grew deeper by the second as I paced back and forth in front of my cave.

Finally, the moon was nearly at the top of the sky, and I set off towards my former home, my path illuminated by the bright light of the heavens. As I padded quickly but silently through the grasslands, I began to wonder what Tama's plan for breaking everyone out was. I assumed he had a distraction in mind, but I couldn't imagine what it might be. I would just have to wait and find out once I saw him later on.

The butterflies flapping around in my stomach seemed to get even more excited as Pride Rock slipped into view above the gray landscape. The majestic monolith cut an imposing figure on the dark horizon, and the moon gave it an ethereal white glow that made it look almost threatening. I swallowed hard and pressed onward. I couldn't let myself be scared by just a big rock, even one that did look like a three hundred foot tall ghost with hyenas crawling all over it. I gulped again.

_Tama, you better have one hell of a plan…_, I thought as I stepped into the shadow of my former home.

The focal point of the Pridelands was eerily quiet, even for the middle of the night. Aside from the occasional hyena patrol, I couldn't see any lionesses, or really any other signs of life at all. Just a huge, cold, unforgiving _rock_. I tapped my claws nervously against the stone beneath my feet. Where was Tama?

At last, I saw him sitting outside the Undercroft, which was what Tama and Nala called the cavernous space underneath the main promontory of Pride Rock. I remembered it as a cold, drafty place that everyone tended to avoid, and it sickened me that Scar would force a bunch of innocent cubs to live in a place like that. _All the more reason to help them escape now_, I told myself as I made my way over to where my best friend was waiting.

My heart sank as I got close enough to Tama to see the expression on his face. Instead of confidence or even nervousness, fear seemed to emanate from my best friend, and when I was finally standing next to him I could see that he was almost sick to his stomach with terror. I groaned inwardly. Anything that could scare Tama that bad was going to throw a major snag in whatever he had planned.

"Well, I'm here," I asked in what I hoped was a normal voice. "What's wrong?"

"It's Nala…" he replied, his eyes wide.

The air seemed to grow a little colder. "What about Nala?" I asked, terrified at what Tama's answer might be.

Tama sighed and looked me dead in the eyes. "Scar's got her," he said slowly. "I don't know when, I don't know how, but she never came back from the hunt and now she's Scar's prisoner up in the den. I'm sorry, Simba."

The world blinked out of focus for a moment, and I felt myself sway slightly on my feet. Tama's worried look grew bigger as he moved to support me before I collapsed entirely. I shook my head and blinked hard a couple times, trying to regain the strength in my limbs. After several slow and agonizing gulps of air, I felt a little better. I stepped away from Tama and stood unsteadily for a moment before speaking.

"How do you know?" I asked quietly, still feeling a little dizzy. "Did you see her?"

Tama grimaced. "As a matter of fact, I did. Come on."

I walked behind Tama as he led me around to the back of Pride Rock. Or maybe I floated. I can't really remember my feet touching the ground; just a sense of being disconnected from the world and making a silent promise to myself that I would do whatever it took to rescue Nala. To hell with the rest of the cubs…I was only concerned for one of them.

Tama turned suddenly and slipped inside a small crevice in the rock face without any hesitation. I stayed outside for a moment longer and tried to work up the courage to follow him. I had never been any good with small spaces, and the dark hole that my friend had disappeared into looked too cramped for even a field mouse to slip through.

_Come on, Simba,_ I told myself. _Remember what you're here for_. A vision of Nala in Scar's greasy claws forced its way into my head, and I gritted my teeth and shoved my way into the hole without a second thought. Almost immediately, I wished I hadn't.

What I had thought was a very narrow hole in the wall was actually a very narrow _tunnel_ that stretched out into almost total darkness. Ever so slowly, I crawled forward on my belly, feeling the panic rise farther into my throat with every step. The air was stale and unmoving, and my fear spiked as I struggled to suck in a breath. Was it just me, or were the walls getting closer together? I bit down hard on my lip and tasted blood.

Finally, I stopped, unable to go any further. "Tama?" I whispered, feeling sick to my stomach. "I think I'm stuck."

A shadowy figure came into view ahead of me, then morphed into a leonine shape. Tama stared at my quivering form, a skeptical look covering his face.

"Umm…no, you're not," he replied slowly. "There must be a good foot of space between you and the walls."

"_A foot is not a lot of space, Tama!_" I hissed through tightly clenched teeth.

Tama's face softened a bit. "Simba, you'll be fine. I've been through this tunnel a hundred times. Now quit bein' a baby and come on already!" Tama turned around and melted back into the shadows ahead of me. He didn't see the glare I shot him when his back was turned.

_It's all fine and good for you,_ I thought angrily as my heart hammered against my chest. You_ didn't get stuck in a hollow log for six hours when you were four months old! This is just a stroll in the freakin' jungle, isn't it!_

I took the deepest breath I had ever taken and shut my eyes tight, and gradually I began to inch forward again, completely sure that I would soon feel the rough walls of the tunnel snag in my fur and be stuck forever. I had no idea how far I'd come, or how far I had to go. At the moment, all my brain could handle was putting one paw in front of the other. I crawled for what felt like hours.

All of a sudden, my nose bumped into something solid ahead of me, and my head brushed the ceiling as I jumped back in shock. After I landed again, I dug my claws into the floor and cracked one eye open, fully expecting to have my vision filled with an impassable wall of rock. Instead, I saw Tama crouched down a few inches away, a strange look of confusion on his face . I had smacked right into his backside.

"You okay, Simba?" Tama asked.

My blank stare was nearly lost in the almost total darkness. Did he really just ask me if I was okay? Was the fact that I was shivering like an antelope in an earthquake just not clear enough for him?

"No, Tama," I articulated very slowly. "I am not okay. I had figured you would have picked up on that by now."

"So you're scared of tight spaces? Why didn't you tell me?" he said matter-of-factly.

"Yes, Tama, I am," I said in the same slow voice, trying very hard to keep my voice down to a whisper. "And I kinda assumed you knew already, actually. You've only known me for, what, _your whole life_?"

Tama looked confused again. "Well, you never told me. And why are so talking so slow?"

"Well, since the alternative is blind screaming panic, I guessed you would prefer the quieter option."

"Gotcha…"

I sucked in another breath. "Can we please start moving now? The sooner we get out of here, the better."

"We are out," Tama said. "This is the end of the tunnel. The den's right in front of us."

Once again, I stared blankly at the brown cub sharing the tunnel with me. "Oh…well, it's about time," I replied, trying to salvage some tiny bit of my dignity. "How long was that tunnel, anyway?"

Tama bit his lip, and I could tell he was trying not to laugh. "About fifteen feet. You can still see outside."

I whipped my head around and looked back to see where I'd crawled. Sure enough, the opening to the tunnel was literally right behind me, hardly even a couple tail lengths from where I was now. So much for dignity.

Tama grinned and shook his head. "See? Nothin' to be scared of. Now come on. I think I can hear Nala talking."

I followed Tama out of the tunnel and onto a ledge that jutted out a few feet above the floor of the den. I peered over the lip and saw Scar pacing back and forth across the floor, surrounded by a dozen hyenas. My heart skipped a beat as I saw Nala standing in the center of the den, surrounded on both sides by two powerfully built hyenas. Thankfully, she didn't look hurt on the outside, but I could tell she was pretty unnerved by the whole situation. As Tama and I watched, Scar stopped suddenly and turned around to face the much smaller tan cub.

"I must say, I'm impressed by your loyalty to your friends, Nala," Scar said, his voice oozing with flattery. "They must be very proud."

"For the last time, I don't know what you're talking about!" Nala shouted at Scar. "I don't have any idea where Tama is, and you know as well as I do that Simba's dead!"

"Scar's gotten really paranoid lately," Tama muttered in my ear. "He's convinced himself that you're still alive somehow and that you're coming to get him."

"He doesn't know how right he is," I murmured back as Scar continued.

"But how can you be so sure?" he replied, again trying to fake compassion. "Surely you must know something about his whereabouts?"

"Yeah, I do! He's at the bottom of the canyon, same as his father!"

Scar's eyes narrowed. "I'm growing impatient, young lady. I don't appreciate it when I'm lied to."

Nala glared right back. "Well, I'm glad I'm telling the truth, then," she replied icily.

Scar stared pensively at Nala for a moment, then his face contorted and he slapped Nala across the face with all his strength. Nala cried out and collapsed for a moment, but was forced back up onto her feet by the two hyenas guarding her. Nala's left eye looked like it was beginning to swell up, but somehow she kept her composure and simply glared at Scar again, this time with a bit of real anger instead of the fake kind.

"Simba, it's not worth it," Tama said as he put a paw across my chest. I realized that I had jumped to my feet when Scar had hit Nala, and that my claws were fully extended. I was itching to go after Scar and teach him a lesson he'd never forget.

"You go down there now, you'll sacrifice everything," Tama continued as he pushed me back from the edge. "All you'll do is get yourself caught too, and once Scar figures out who you are he'll just get more paranoid and come after the rest of us. Not to mention he'll probably kill both of you first. We're gonna get her out of here eventually...just not now."

"How?" I hissed as Scar started pacing again. "You said it yourself. If we even try to get into the den, Scar and those hyenas'll tear us apart!"

Tama furrowed his brow. "We need something that'll get all of them out of here for a little while," he mused out loud. "But what could distract him enough to make him leave Nala?"

For a long moment I was stumped, but then suddenly I was struck with an idea. A crazy one, sure, but I knew it would work perfectly.

"I think I know a way," I said to Tama, who turned and gave me a surprised look.

"That was quick," he commented. "What d'you have in mind?"

I ignored his question. If I told Tama about my idea, he wouldn't even let me finish explaining it, let alone actually try it. "Come on," I said instead. "Let's get out of here."

I squeezed back into the tunnel without waiting for a reply. Now that I knew how short the tunnel really was, I moved through it much faster, and before I knew it I was back out into the open air. Tama popped out right behind me, a slightly worried expression now on his face.

"Simba, what are you gonna do?" he asked as if he was totally comfortable with the situation, though I knew he was anything but.

I turned to look at him. "The only thing that'll get Scar's attention," I replied a bit ominously. I ran off before Tama could argue.

------------------------------

I made my way back around to the front of Pride Rock without a sound. Before Tama had led me away to eavesdrop on Scar and Nala, I had noticed all of the lionesses and what looked like most of the hyenas sleeping outside on the promontory, presumably waiting for their king to finish inside the den. They would be an important part of my plan, provided I could find the one I was looking for.

I crept up to the base of the promontory and peeked up over the edge. Contrary to what I had thought, most of the lionesses were still awake and moving around, and I had to move quickly to avoid being seen. I jumped up onto a small ledge that was set a ways up the rock face and sat down, beginning to wonder whether my plan would even work at all. It had seemed like such a great idea back in the den with Tama, but now that I was out in the open I was starting to have second thoughts. And then, of course, there was the fact that I still couldn't see the lioness I needed to help me the most even from my higher vantage point.

Suddenly, a random memory popped into my head: I had woken up early one morning and sprinted outside to greet the new day. Today was the day that my dad would show me the whole kingdom. I couldn't wait to go up to the summit of Pride Rock with him, to follow my dad up the narrow path that led all the way to the very top of our home and look out onto the whole Pridelands for the first time in my life. With a jolt, I realized that the path to the summit was right behind me on the ledge. The last time I had been here, I had been following my dad.

The last time I had been here was one of the last moments I had ever spent with my dad.

I closed my eyes and tried to force away any thoughts of my father, like how he had laughed at my attempts to drag him out of the cave as the sun began to peek over the horizon. Like how strong he had been when he rescued me from the hyenas in the graveyard. Like how small he had been when his body lay crumpled at the bottom of the gorge…

I wiped my eyes and looked down at the lionesses again. She had to be here somewhere. She couldn't be gone. She just _had_ to be there. I felt my eyes grow wet again.

"Where are you, Mom?" I asked under my breath as I desperately surveyed the crowd once more. All of the lionesses looked the same from up here. I cursed quietly and started to climb down again, swallowing back the lump in my throat once and for all. I would just have to talk to someone else.

All of a sudden, an angry growl rang out from somewhere below me, and I stopped and peered over the edge of the rock shelf. A light tan lion was pacing angrily underneath the ledge, surrounded by a circle of several other similarly-hued lionesses. I recognized Sarafina as the one pacing, and I watched from above as she stood still and glared over at the entrance to the den.

"I'm sure she's fine, Sarafina," one of the nearby lionesses said nervously.

"No, she is not fine!" Sarafina growled as her claws clicked the stone beneath her paws. "You've seen how Scar deals with his prisoners!"

"Nala's not his prisoner," another lioness replied. "Scar might be an egotistical showoff, but he's not completely insane. He wouldn't hurt Nala."

"What makes you so sure?" Sarafina hissed at the dissenting lioness. "I don't see your daughter being interrogated!"

The lioness looked offended. "Hey, it's not my fault Nala got captured!"

In an instant, Sarafina was crouched over the cowering body of the other lioness, one forepaw on her foe's chest and the other poised at her throat. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean, Baridi?" Sarafina snarled as she began to extend her claws. Baridi gulped and tried to stammer out an apology, but Sarafina just bared her teeth and growled again.

"That's enough, Sarafina," a new voice said calmly. My eyes widened. I knew that voice. The other lionesses turned around and stared as my mother made her way through the crowd and gently nudged Sarafina in the side. Sarafina glared at Baridi for a moment longer, then allowed my mother to lead her away from the trembling lioness.

"Gods, I can't stand her, Sarabi," Sarafina grumbled as my mother took her under the ledge, unaware that I was crouched directly above them.

"I know, 'Fina, but you're letting your fear get the best of you," my mother said in a comforting voice as Sarafina laid down slowly, still glowering at Baridi. "You can't afford to lose your temper now."

"It wouldn't be so hard to keep it if she didn't accuse me of negligence!" Sarafina replied testily. "Especially with how her daughter turned out!"

"Uruzi is Baridi's concern, not yours," my mother countered. "Come on. You need some rest." My mother raised her voice so that the whole pride could hear. "We all need some rest," she said with authority. "Go on…I'll take care of Sarafina."

The other lionesses dispersed as my mom nudged Sarafina to her feet. I realized with a start that any opportunity to speak with my mother would be lost if she rejoined the other lionesses. I waited until Sarafina had gotten up and walked away, then I did the only thing I could think of to get her attention: I kicked a rock at her head.

What? It was just a little one…besides, it worked. As soon as the pebble bounced off my mother's skull, she whipped her head around in my direction, her eyes narrowing as she searched for whoever had dared to assault her.

It took her a few seconds to see me standing on top of the ledge. When she finally did, she wrinkled her brow in confusion, trying to figure out if she knew me. I was happy to note that that it took my own mother much less time to recognize me than Nala, and I could see my name forming silently on her lips as she stared up at me, comprehension mixing with utter disbelief. I shook my head silently and motioned for her to follow me up the path so no one would eavesdrop on our conversation.

As I jumped up around the corner of Pride Rock, I caught a glimpse of my mother turning around and looking at Sarafina for a moment. "'Fina? Will you be okay if I go off by myself for a bit?" I heard her say. "I'm not feeling too great."

Sarafina didn't answer for a second or two, but the look in my mother's eyes must have convinced her to not ask questions. "Sure, Sarabi. I'll try not to slit anyone's throat while you're gone," Sarafina said with a good-natured chuckle.

"That'd be wonderful," my mother replied sarcastically. I could tell from the tone of her voice that she was rolling her eyes. Once Sarafina was gone for good, Mom stealthily made her way up onto the path where I was waiting for her.

For a long moment, neither of us spoke. Eventually, I smiled sheepishly and broke the silence.

"Hi, Mom," I said warmly, acutely aware of how much deeper my voice had gotten since she had last seen me.

My mom didn't reply with words. She just swept me up in her forepaws and held me close, as if she never wanted to let go of me again. I guess that was pretty understandable. After all, I'd kinda been dead for the last nine months.

After a couple minutes of squeezing me hard enough to make my head spin, she loosened her grip a little and just looked at me, her eyes shining. "Look how much you've grown," she muttered quietly, her voice cracking with emotion. I grinned shyly and looked down at the ground. Despite how happy I was to see my mother again, it was still embarrassing to hear her fawn over me like that. Some things never change, I guess.

My mom's brow furrowed again. "But how are you alive?" she wondered aloud. "Scar said he found you in the briars…"

I raised an eyebrow. "Well, Scar's not exactly the most trustworthy lion around, is he?" I said.

My mother smiled. "I always thought there was something fishy about his story. I never had any proof, though…" she said as her grin widened. "Until now."

I grinned back, and for another minute or so I let my mother hug me again. All of a sudden, I remembered why I had wanted to talk to my mother in the first place, and my face grew serious.

"Mom, I need you to do something for me," I said as I looked up at her. "It's gonna sound crazy, but I know it'll work."

My mother gazed down at me and took on a somber look as well. "Is this about Nala?" she asked as if she already knew the answer.

"Yeah…Tama and I are gonna break her out along with the rest of the cubs. We're escaping."

My mother looked surprised. "Tama? He knows you're alive too? And what's this about escaping?"

Quickly, I went over what had happened to me the last nine months, starting with how I had escaped the canyon and ending with Tama's discovery of Scar's plan. When I finished, my mother looked a bit depressed, and I wondered briefly whether it had been a good idea to make her remember the time when she had lost her entire family in a single day.

"So Tama's been helping you this whole time?" my mom summarized. "And he never told me?" She sounded a bit hurt about being kept in the dark, and immediately I started backtracking a bit.

"I don't think he told anybody," I replied hastily. "Well, he might have told Nala, but she didn't believe him until this afternoon…"

"So all this time he's been keeping that a secret…" my mother mused. "I can't imagine what he must have gone through to do that."

My face flushed a bright crimson under my fur. I definitely didn't feel like explaining _that_ particular event to my mom. I cleared my throat and tried to steer the conversation back to my plan for rescuing Nala.

"Anyway, about the favor…" I said. "Mom, I need you to start a fight."

My mother looked confused. "Why would I do something like that? Someone could get hurt!"

"Just hear me out. Right now, Scar thinks Nala knows where I am, and she's not talking. I don't know whether Nala or Scar will crack first, but either way we don't have much time. We need some way to get him and his guards out of there now, and the only thing that's sure to get Scar's attention is if something big happens out here, which is why I need you to start a fight. He'll come outside with his bodyguards to get everything under control again, which is when I'll slip in and free Nala. We'll meet up with Tama after he's gathered up everybody that wants to go, then we're all out of here."

My mother stared. "That's your plan?"

"Yeah, we didn't have a lot of time to think it over. And Tama doesn't exactly know yet…" I shook my head and looked back up into my mother's eyes. "Look, this is gonna work, I promise. I just need you to help me. Please, Mom?"

For a moment, my mother was silent, and I was terrified that she would refuse. Finally, she sighed and looked away.

"Simba, as much as I hate to say this, I think you're right," she admitted. "I can't think of anything else that's sure to get Scar away from Nala. I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into."

I smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Mom. I got it."

"No, I don't think you do, Simba," my mom replied a bit harshly. "Starting a fight with the hyenas is not something that you should ever take lightly. It's entirely possible that someone might die as a result of this. Are you willing to accept that?"

I didn't even blink. "If we don't do this, a lot more lions are going to die. And they'll be cubs. I'm willing to take the risk, and I think the rest of the lionesses would too."

My mother seemed both surprised and proud that I had taken such a mature look at the situation. "All right, Simba. I'll think of some way to rally the lionesses against the hyenas. In the meantime, be ready to get in and out of the den quickly. I don't know how much time this is going to buy you, so you'll need to move-"

My mother was cut off as I jumped up on my back legs and hugged her, giving her a lick on the cheek for good measure. I could tell I had done the right thing by the look on her face. I dropped back down and smiled again.

"Thanks, Mom," I said. "I won't let you down."

My mother was beaming again. "I know you won't. Now go."

I grinned one more time and edged around my mother, feeling her eyes on me the whole way down. I knew that she would help me now; I just had to hold up my end of the bargain.

------------------------------

**Sarabi**

It was wonderful to have hope again.

After Mufasa died, I had lost any and all aspirations that our pride would ever thrive as it had under my mate's rule. Scar may have shared a blood relation with our king, but he was nothing like Mufasa. Instead of goodwill and courage, Scar had hatred and disrespect for both the land and its inhabitants, and the Pridelands suffered constantly because of it. The responsibility of keeping our pride from dying out fell to me, and I'm not sure how long I would've been able to hold out had Simba not returned. It wasn't a lack of strength or fortitude that sapped my will every day; I had always prided myself on being able to face down adversity. The problem was having to do so alone. Without my family by my side, it felt like part of me was missing, and every day my will to live weakened a bit. All that changed when I saw my son looking down on me from that ledge.

As I watched him run off down the slope and disappear around the side of Pride Rock, I couldn't help but sigh again. Was this strong, somber lion really the same happy-go-lucky, naïve one I had raised such a short time ago? There was no denying it: being exiled had changed Simba, maybe permanently and maybe not for the better. Simba had grown up, and I had missed it. I shook my head and blinked away the tears that had suddenly sprung up in the corners of my eyes. I had a job to do.

I slowly made my way down to where Sarafina was waiting for me. She gazed at me with a curious expression, and I knew that there was no point in hiding the truth from her. Besides, it concerned her family, too.

"You feeling any better?" she asked in a skeptical, almost sarcastic tone.

I stared for a moment before I remembered the lie I had told my best friend. "Yes, I'm fine," I replied. "But there's something else I need to speak with you about." I glanced over at the rest of the lionesses. "Alone."

Sarafina raised her eyebrows. "All right, then," she said. "Let's talk,"

She walked back over to the alcove where she had attacked Baridi, clearly expecting me to follow. I rolled my eyes. It wasn't hard to see where Nala had gotten her confidence. As I came up behind Sarafina, she casually sat down and turned around to face me.

"So how is Simba these days?" she asked with exaggerated curiosity.

My eyes went wide. "How did you-"

"I saw the cub you followed up onto the ridge. I thought it looked like him, but I wasn't sure until I saw your face coming back down." Sarafina's voice grew softer as she gazed into my eyes. "He looked just like Mufasa did when he was that age."

I glanced away and sighed again. "Yes, he does…and he's grown up so fast too."

Sarafina gave me a gentle nuzzle and smiled sympathetically. "Don't blame yourself for not being there for him," she said quietly. "Just be glad he's alive."

"He may not be after tonight…" I muttered.

Sarafina's eyes widened, then narrowed. "What are you talking about? What is he going to do?"

"He's going to rescue Nala. He's got a plan, but it involves a lot of risk for both him and all of us. I'm supposed to start a fight with the hyenas so he can slip in without Scar knowing, but I don't know whether it will even work."

I turned to face Sarafina and was surprised at the determination in her eyes. "If he wants to rescue Nala, I'll do anything to help him," she said fearlessly. "Even if it does mean risking my own life."

"You do realize what could happen?"

Sarafina's eyes hardened even more. "I've always known what would happen if we challenged Scar. The only difference now is that I'm finally willing to accept it. I can't stand to let my daughter spend another second in that den with him, no matter what happens to me because of it."

I smiled. "Well, we'd better get started, then."

Sarafina returned my smile, but her eyes remained cold. "Let me start the fight," she requested. "I've been waiting for this for a long time."

I nodded, then stepped aside and let Sarafina brush past me, her face seemingly set in stone. I knew that if there was anyone that was capable of standing up to Scar, it was Sarafina. She had never really liked my brother-in-law even when we were cubs, and now that he was king her distaste had grown daily. My worry wasn't that she would have any trouble starting a fight with the hyenas. My worry was that she wouldn't be able to stop.

Sarafina strode confidently back through the crowd on the promontory and walked right up to a particularly large hyena that was dozing near the den's entrance. The hyena glanced up and rolled his eyes as Sarafina glared at him.

"I already told you, your daughter's not comin' out till Scar's done talkin' to her," he grumbled as he closed his eyes again. "So I'd suggest you let me sleep now. I get cranky when I'm tired."

"Well, you were certainly awake enough to steal our kill this morning, Sajini!" Sarafina growled back.

The hyena cracked one eye open. "'Scuse me?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! You and your little friends don't give a rat's ass if we all starve!"

Sajini stood up, clearly losing what little patience he had. "I don't have a damn clue what you're talking about," he said in a low voice before grinning cockily. "And no, I wouldn't really care if you all starved, though it'd sure as hell be a lot quieter around here if you went stiff, sweetheart."

_Bad move, buddy_, I thought as the laughter of Sajini's cronies filled the air. Sarafina's eyes narrowed, and without warning she leapt at the offending hyena, her face twisted in fury and a terrifying roar reverberating from her throat. I was glad to see that Sajini's eyes went wide when he saw Sarafina's claws reaching for his throat, but my satisfaction was short-lived. Before Sarafina could even touch Sajini, she was knocked aside by a seething mass of hyenas, and I let out a roar of my own as I saw my friend fall to the ground with half a dozen black bodies tearing into her. I jumped into the fray and started slashing at my friend's attackers, and a moment later several other snarling lionesses joined in. The fight was on.

------------------------------

**Simba**

I was in the middle of the tunnel when I heard the first roar. At first, I thought it had come from inside the den, and my heart jumped into my throat as the outburst echoed behind me. Had Scar finally lost his patience with Nala? I squirmed through the rest of the tunnel as fast as I could and carefully peeked over the edge, afraid of what I might see. Thankfully, Nala was still alive, and I realized that the roar had come from outside, where a huge fight had broken out. My mom had pulled through in a big way, but Scar didn't seem to be taking the bait. In fact, he seemed almost amused by the commotion outside.

"I wonder what that could be?" he asked to no one in particular. He turned to Nala and slowly smirked. "Perhaps your dear mother's come to rescue you?"

"She wouldn't need to if you would just listen to me," Nala growled. I was amazed at how well she was holding up, but I noticed a strained tone to her voice that hadn't been there earlier. I definitely needed to get her out of here now.

"Oh, but I have listened to you, Nala. For far too long, I've begun to realize." Scar turned to one of the guards holding Nala. "Put her in the cage and make sure she stays there. Everyone else, outside. I'd prefer that there be no distractions while we're…finishing up in here."

Nala's eyes went wide. It seemed Scar had finally gotten to her, and he sneered maliciously at her fearful expression.

"I won't be long, dear," he said in a low voice as he slowly slid a claw down the side of Nala's face. "Just a little business to take care of." Nala flinched and shut her eyes as Scar pulled away and left the den, followed by the rest of the hyenas. As soon as Scar was gone, Nala's guards shoved her roughly towards a huge white mass hidden away in a corner. As the guards grabbed Nala in their jaws and threw her over the top of the structure and into the cavernous space inside, I realized that it was a giant rib cage that must have belonged to an absolutely massive animal, bigger than anything I had ever seen. Yet despite its size, the gaps between the bones were much too small for even the tiniest cub to slip through, and each rib was as thick as a small tree. I cursed under my breath as my heart sank again. Nala's cage looked completely impenetrable, and that wasn't even taking into account the two enormous hyenas parked in front of it. How was I supposed to break her out now?

Luckily for both me and Nala, her guards didn't have much rattling around in their thick skulls. Before a minute had passed, they were already complaining about their duties.

"Man, this sucks," the one on the left groaned as he absentmindedly scratched his head with his back claws. "I thought we'd get to go smash up some lionesses, but we just gotta watch this brat. I'm bored!"

His partner nodded. "Me too! We should be out there fightin' too! I been itchin' to tear somethin' up all day!"

"Yeah, but what're we supposed t' do 'bout it? We can't just walk off…Scar'd bust us up!"

The other hyena fell silent for a moment, and it looked like he was trying to think hard. At least, that was the impression I got from the strained expression on his face and the weird noise he was making.

"Wait, wait, I got it…" he finally mumbled slowly. "What if we just...watch or somethin'? Y'know, just, like, go and sit up there and egg 'em on and stuff?"

"Can we do that?" his partner replied as he scratched harder.

"I dunno, Scar never said we _couldn't_…ahh, let's just go already! I don't like thinking that much anyway!"

With that, both of the hyenas got up and walked over to the entrance of the den and sat down there, leaving Nala totally unguarded. I stared after them, hardly believing how lucky I had gotten. Now that the guards were distracted, all I had to do was bust my best friend out of a cage made of six-inch thick rock-solid bones, all without attracting the attention of the two bruisers sitting twenty feet away or any of their hundreds of buddies currently ripping apart whatever remained of my old pride. Piece of cake.

I carefully dropped down from the ledge and crept over to Nala's cage, doing my best to move completely silently. I doubt it would've mattered much if I had made a noise, though. I'm pretty sure I could've blown a rhino-sized hole through the back of the den without Nala's so-called guards so much as blinking, but I didn't feel like taking any chances.

Nala's eyes widened again when she saw me appear in front of her. "You found me," she whispered, her voice quivering with relief. "I knew you wouldn't leave me behind."

I tried to give her a reassuring smile. "I'd never leave you behind, Nala," I replied. "I'm gonna get you out of here, I promise. Just give me a second to figure this out."

_Figure what out?_, I thought as I searched desperately for any weak point in the bleached bars of her prison. _This thing might as well be set in stone!_

"Simba…" Nala said nervously. "You might want to hurry up…I think the fight's over."

My stomach dropped. I had to find something, _anything_ that would help break her out, or we were both dead. But _what?_ The only even vaguely weak spot in the bars was a hairline crack running across one of them, but it wasn't enough to get me anywhere close to breaking it entirely. Frantically, I pushed as hard as I could on the fractured bone with my forepaws, but it was hopeless. The bone still held fast, and to make matters worse Nala's guards had finally torn their eyes away from the fight and spotted me.

"Hey! You ain't supposed to be in here!" one of them shouted as he squinted at me from across the room. "How'd you get over there?"

I backed into the bars of the cage and tried not to shake too obviously. With a sinking feeling, I realized I was trapped between the hulking hyena in front of me and the unbreakable white skeleton behind me, and I swallowed hard as the giant walked closer, his bulky muscles rippling under his fur. Suddenly, I was struck with yet another crazy idea. Maybe I wasn't strong enough to break through the bars of Nala's cage, but the hyena was a different story. All he needed was a bit of convincing. Bolstered by my new plan, I stood up tall and put on the most annoying grin I could muster.

"That's right, numnuts," I shot back cockily. "It wasn't too hard with you two boneheads guarding her. And by 'guarding', I mean 'staring at the wall with your claws up your-"

"What'd you say, punk?" the hyena said loudly as his lips curled back into a snarl.

I grinned wider. "Gee, I'm sorry…I'll speak slower next time. Thinking's not your strong suit, is it, big guy?"

"Oh, I'm gonna enjoy killin' you!" the hyena growled as he broke into a sprint, his fangs bared.

"Simba, what are you doing?" Nala hissed behind me in a panicked voice. "He's gonna kill you!"

"Get to the side of the cage and stay down," I muttered, not taking my eyes off the charging hyena for even a second. As he drew closer, another piece of advice from Tulio floated through my mind.

_Predictability in battle will get ya killed before ya can even blink,_ my mentor's voice echoed inside my mind. _Always move in a direction your opponent doesn't expect. If someone's chargin' at ya, 'e probably expects ya to dodge to either side or even over his 'ead. The one place 'e isn't expecting you to go…_

"…is down," I finished as the hyena leapt at my throat. He never even touched me.

Just as the hyena was about to slice me into ribbons, I threw myself flat on the ground and flipped onto my back, positioning myself right under my attacker's belly. The hyena's paws slashed at empty air as I dug my claws into his underside and added my own strength to the strength of his jump, focusing all of it on the cracked bone on Nala's makeshift jail cell. The hyena smashed into the bone at beyond full speed, and in an instant the crack widened until the bone snapped in half entirely. Nala screamed and dove away as the hyena collapsed where she had been sitting a moment earlier, his greasy fur covered in white bone fragments. When she looked up again, the hyena was unconscious next to her and there was a two-foot gap in her cage.

"Come on, Nala!" I yelled as she stared in shock at the destruction around her. "We gotta go!"

She quickly jumped to her feet, but staggered as she stared at something behind me. "Simba! _Look out!_" she screamed.

I whipped around and ducked down almost immediately, but I was still too slow to avoid a tremendous slash from the second hyena. I flew across the den and slammed into the impossibly solid wall, and stars spun circles in front of my eyes as I collapsed onto the den floor. In my hurry to deal with the first hyena, I had totally forgotten about his buddy, and now I was going to pay for it. A single drop of dark red liquid splashed onto the ground as I tried to stand up, and I realized that I had a long scratch running down the side of my face from the hyena's attack. After a few tries I finally managed to get all the way back onto my feet with my head still throbbing something awful, but I collapsed again a moment later, the den lurching into a stomach-churning spin around me. I couldn't move. I could barely even breathe.

_Did I get hit by a hyena or a rhino?_, I thought groggily as the hyena sauntered up next to me and shoved his paw into my throat. The world went fuzzy again, and the edges of my vision started to go dark. Now I couldn't breathe at all. My claws scrabbled uselessly against the strong grip of the hyena, and I thought I could make out a savage grin on his face.

"So, brave little boy toy here thought he could march in and save the day…well, you know what they say, kid," he gloated as he pressed down harder on my windpipe. "You mess with the bull…"

"You get the horns," a muffled voice finished above me. The hyena and I both glanced up and saw Nala perched on a ledge above us, an enormous piece of bone clamped in her jaws. The hyena stared stupidly as Nala spit out the bone and let it fall right onto his head, where it bounced off with a loud crack. The hyena stood stock still for a moment, then slowly fell on its side. He was out cold just like his partner.

As the hyena's paw slid off my throat, I sucked in a huge breath and the world snapped back into clarity, every color blurring together for a moment. I was still too dizzy to move and my head still hurt, but at least I was alive. And if I was lucky, I might get a whole ten seconds to recover before another hyena walked in and started slapping me around again.

I rolled over onto my stomach and stared at the wall I had just been thrown into, trying not to puke. Eventually, the ground started to feel solid again, and I got my feet under me. As I started to stand, I felt something cold push up against my side and help me up. I glanced to my right and saw Nala standing next to me, her nose in my side and a rush of worry and gratitude spreading across her face.

"You okay?" she asked as I leaned against the wall.

"Aside from the rockslide rattling around in my skull?" I said as I squinted at her. "Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"

"Just a couple scratches…I definitely didn't expect you to throw that hyena through the bars."

I closed my eyes and smiled faintly. "I don't think he did either."

Nala grinned too, then turned around and stared at the dark body slumped next to me. "How long do you think they'll be out?"

"Long enough for us to get out of here," I replied as I stepped away from the wall. My headache had died down a bit, and I was pretty sure I could make it a good distance away from Pride Rock without falling over...much. "Let's go."

I led Nala back to the secret passage behind Pride Rock. This time, I didn't even care about the size of the tunnel. I just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. It wouldn't be long before Scar was finished outside, and when he found out about Nala…I didn't want to be anywhere near him. But I was getting ahead of myself. First, we needed to get out of the den, and then we could worry about the outcome of the fight.

------------------------------

**Sarabi**

The fight ended almost as quickly as it had started. One moment the promontory was a seething mass of flying claws and spraying blood, and the next it was deathly silent again. I turned around from the hyena I was standing over to see what had happened, and my stomach dropped into my feet. Scar was striding out of the den, flanked by nearly a full dozen of the largest hyenas I had ever seen. In front of him, Sarafina lay bruised and beaten on the ground, alive but badly hurt. One eye was nearly swollen shut, and her right forepaw had been chewed almost beyond recognition. Somehow, she found the strength to look up at Scar as he surveyed the damage we had wrought.

"Is this the one that started it?" Scar asked quietly, directing his question towards the pack of hyenas surrounding my friend's broken body. I glared and tapped my claws against the rock, trying to keep from lashing out with them. Scar was speaking as if Sarafina was just an object instead of a sentient being, and it took all my self-control not to speak out and demand that he show her that basic respect.

"Yeah, she's the one," one of the hyenas responded. I realized that it was the one that Sarafina had first attacked, the one called Sajini. "Crazy bitch woulda killed me if the boys hadn't taken care of her."

Scar gazed down at Sarafina with an impassive stare, which Sarafina returned with one of malice. "Now why would you do something like that, Sarafina? Still so concerned about that daughter of yours?"

"How can you live with yourself, Scar?" Sarafina snarled. "Every day you abuse your own kind, and for what? So you can play king? So you can pretend you have even a ounce of respect in this godforsaken place?"

"I should hardly think interrogating one discontented rebel would be considered abuse, Sarafina."

"_One discontented rebel?_! We're talking about a child, Scar! We're talking about _my_ child!"

"Yes, we are. And as king, I have the right and the power to declare anyone I wish as treasonous. You should consider yourself lucky I don't make use of that right without just cause."

"I hardly even consider myself lucky to be alive! It was bad enough when you were just an annoying little cub that cried when he didn't get his way…now I can't even give you the compliment of being just a nuisance. You're a monster, Scar. You always have been."

Scar's eyes narrowed. "Monster or not, I control your destiny, Sarafina. Continue to insult me, and you will suffer the con-"

Scar was cut off as Sarafina lifted her head up and spit directly into Scar's face at point blank range, glowering at him the entire time. The crowd gasped, but Scar didn't even flinch. He simply stood perfectly still and stared into Sarafina's enraged eyes. Neither of them blinked, and instead of shock or anger a look of mild disappointment briefly rolled across Scar's face before it became expressionless again. After what seemed like hours, Sajini broke the silence.

"So what do we do about her, boss?" he said in an excited voice. "Do we kill her?"

Scar remained silent for a long time, Sarafina's saliva still slowly rolling down his cheek. Finally, he spoke quietly, his lips barely moving at all.

"Do what you must."

Scar turned around and walked slowly back into the den. He never looked back, not even when Sarafina's screams reached a crescendo before fading away for the last time. I wanted so badly to dive in and rip every one of those black mongrels to shreds, but I couldn't have moved even if my own life had depended on it. All I could do was sit there, stiff with shock, and watch as my last friend at Pride Rock died without ever knowing whether her daughter was safe. As Scar disappeared back into the cave, the hyenas dispersed as well, and I was free to mourn for my best friend. As the tears rolled down my cheeks, I prayed with all my heart that Sarafina's sacrifice had bought Simba enough time to escape. He was all I had left now.

He was all any of us had left.

------------------------------

**Simba**

We almost made it out in time.

After exiting the tunnel, Nala and I turned right and crept around the edge of Pride Rock, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. When we had met earlier in the day with Tama, we had decided that we would meet back at the river caves and figure out a new strategy from there, but that plan was proving harder and harder to follow. For one thing, going to the river caves meant we'd have to cut back around Pride Rock to the promontory side, which involved an even greater risk of being caught. It also meant that if the fight had ended prematurely, all of Scar's forces would be concentrated in the area we had to cross. Needless to say, Nala and I were pretty jumpy even before we heard the blood-curdling screams echoing from the promontory.

The first shriek rang out just as we were about to round the corner and bring the promontory into view again. Both Nala and I froze as the screams grew louder, then stopped suddenly without warning. Once again, Pride Rock was silent, but now it was accompanied by an overbearing sense of danger. We didn't have much time.

Nala looked at me, her eyes huge. "What was that?" she asked in a small voice. "Was that…a lion?"

_Gods, I hope not_, I begged inside my head. I almost said the same to Nala, but stopped myself before any of the words escaped. The last thing she needed right now was more fear.

"It sounded more like a hyena to me…" I said without much conviction, a fact that Nala picked up on quickly to my dismay. "Look, I'm sure everyone's fine," I continued. "Regardless of what's going on up there, we have to keep mov-"

I was cut off as another scream filled the air, this one much deeper and angrier. My eyes grew to match Nala's. I had a feeling that Scar had just discovered his missing prisoner, which meant what had been little time to escape was now no time at all. There would be no running from an entire pack of hyenas. Our only hope now was to hide.

Thinking quickly, I yelled for Nala to follow me, then ran around the rest of Pride Rock and jumped up onto the path where I had met my mother just minutes earlier. As I jumped up the steep slope, I caught a glimpse of several lionesses crowding around a limp form on the ground. I felt sick when I saw the light pelt and muzzle shape of the dead creature. It was a lioness. My brilliant plan had cost someone their life. Once again, I was responsible for someone's death. I forced myself to look away and pull Nala up to the ledge where I was sitting. There would be time to grieve later. Right now, I had to worry about Nala and myself.

Nala and I huddled together on the ledge, listening to the angry screams continue below us. It wouldn't occur to me until later how close Nala was to me, but at the moment I didn't even care. Imminent death tends to do that to you. Eventually, the screams died down ever so slightly and became a coherent sentence.

"_WHERE IS SHE?_"

Nala flinched and shrank even farther from the edge of the ridge. She closed her eyes, and I could tell she was trying to block out the inescapable noise coming from below her. I wanted nothing more than to hide like her, but I knew that what Scar said in the coming moments would determine my strategy for escaping. I edged closer as Scar's voice echoed through Pride Rock.

I suppose someone must have tried to explain what had happened, because the next thing Scar yelled was "I don't want excuses!_ I want her found!_". There was another moment of silence, then an enraged growl followed by a pained yelp. I bit my lip and hoped it hadn't been another lion that had just suffered Scar's wrath.

"All of you, out into the grasslands!" Scar screeched at somebody, probably the crowd of hyenas still waiting outside the den. "Find her! _Find both of them_!"

Without a moment's hesitation, the entire hyena pack tore off in all directions into the grasslands, cutting off any hope of escape. There was no way we could leave Pride Rock without being seen by at least ten of Scar's minions, and that was assuming that we weren't caught before we even left.

"What are we gonna do, Simba?" Nala said. She sounded nearly overcome with terror.

"I don't know…" I muttered, fear beginning to take its toll on me as well. The whole night, I had been blindly hoping for an easy way out of Pride Rock, and now that the time had come to escape I found that no such option even existed. As far as I could tell, we were completely trapped. But then, as I stared out at the fading black hides of the hyenas, I noticed something odd. In his rage, Scar had assumed we were long gone and sent every single hyena under his control out into the grasslands to search for us. Which meant that they were none left back here at Pride Rock, where we really were. If we could find a good place to hide at Pride Rock, we might be able to stay out of sight long enough to frustrate Scar's search parties. Once all of the hyenas came back to Pride Rock, we might be able to slip out through all of the disorder. It was a risky plan, but I knew we didn't have any other choice at the moment. The only problem was, where would we hide?

"We have to find someplace to hide here," I said to Nala, hoping that she would be some help in coming up with a hiding spot. "Got any ideas?"

Nala slowly shook her head. "The only place I can think of is my hideaway, but I don't think we can both fit in there."

I stared. "You have a hideaway?"

"Well, it's more like a hole in the wall…anyway, it wouldn't work. I'm sorry, Simba. It's kind of hard to think right now."

"No, it's fine," I said as my gaze slid over to the path winding up the side of Pride Rock behind us. "In fact, I think I might have a better place."

Nala turned to see where I was looking, and immediately her face fell. "Up there?" she said skeptically. "How are we supposed to get back down?"

"We come back down the path," I answered as I got to my feet. "We'll only be up there until the hyenas come back, then we'll make a break for it when they're trying to figure what to do next."

"But what if they don't come back for a long time? We could be stuck up there for days!"

I sighed and glanced behind me. I could still hear the baying of the hyenas as they tore the Pridelands apart looking for us. "Look, it'll be the same with any place we hide here. This is the best thing I can think of right now, so we'll just going to have to work with it. I need you to trust me, Nala." I looked her in the eyes. "I promised you I was gonna get you out of here, and I'm not planning on breaking that promise. We just need to wait for a while."

Nala blinked once, then sighed. "I do trust you, Simba," she said quietly. "I just don't wanna get caught again. He would've killed me if you hadn't showed up."

"You won't get caught," I replied. "I won't let it happen." Despite the magnitude of the situation, I still managed to squeeze out a smile. "I promise."

Nala smiled faintly in return. "The summit it is, then," she relented, already sounding a bit more confident. "Lead the way."

------------------------------

It was a bit of a harrowing climb up to the top of Pride Rock. The path narrowed constantly as we got higher, and there were several moments where I was afraid we would both slip and fall to our deaths. But after a stressful few minutes, we finally reached the peak of the tallest structure in the Pridelands, and I quickly found a hidden ledge just below the plateau at the top that looked like a good place to lay low for a while. I carefully picked my way around the sharp rocks surrounding the ledge and slid down onto the ledge, Nala waiting above me. Looking up from my spot on the ridge, I realized that this was an even better hiding spot than I had thought. The ledge was roomy enough for both of us to stretch out comfortably, and the overhang that stretched over the top made it nearly invisible from any spot on the summit, or any spot below it for that matter. We would be safe here.

I gingerly let my legs fall out from under me as Nala jumped down to join me, my whole body still complaining about the beating it had taken in the last few hours. As I looked at the lines on Nala's face and the dark bruise she had acquired during her time with Scar, it occurred to me how tired she must be.

"Go ahead and sleep if you want, Nala," I said as she stifled a yawn. "I'll keep watch."

Nala smiled wearily. "Thanks, Simba. You don't know how long a day it's been."

Without another word, she flopped down next to me and scooted over until she was practically leaning into me. I gave her a curious glance, and she went a little pink.

"I'm cold," she said matter-of-factly. I smiled. It had been boiling hot all day.

"Me too," I replied.

She grinned and laid her head down between her paws, yawning loudly before letting out a contented sigh. "You were really brave today, Simba," she mumbled as her eyelids began to droop.

"Well, you were a lot braver," I countered. "I can't even imagine holding up so long against Scar like that,"

She shrugged. "I didn't want to let you down…" she said faintly as her eyes closed all the way. A moment later, she was asleep.

I watched the movements of the hyenas for a long time after Nala went off to Neverland, growing steadily more tired with each passing minute. I was worn out from everything that had happened that day too, but I knew I had to stay awake and make sure no one saw us up here. Briefly, I glanced down again at the cub snoozing next to me. I had to stay awake for her. To protect her.

I let out a huge yawn. My head felt like it was filled with lead. Maybe if I just laid it down for a minute…

I jerked back up with a start. I couldn't fall asleep. Nala was counting on me. The cub curled up next to me was counting on me. The warm body next to me was counting on me…

I yawned again. The night air was actually getting a little bit cold. And Nala's body was so warm. My nose bumped against the rock below me and I jerked awake again. I had to stay awake. Had to fight it. Fight the warmth. Fight the lead. Fight it. Fight it…fight…

The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes was a cold rocky floor and a flash of light tan fur an inch away from my face. The dull ache in my head gradually faded away, and I drifted off into nothingness. Sleep had never felt so good.

* * *

First of all, a huge thanks to everybody who listened to my pleas last chapter and reviewed. I'm sorry I haven't really been responding to any of them, but as I've said before I'm fairly new to this whole fan-fiction thing...anyway, I'll be replying to reviews from now on, if that sort of thing is important to you.

Now for my thoughts on the chapter...I was surprised how long this chapter ended up being, especially coupled with the fact that the next one looks like it's gonna be really short. Don't be surprised if I end up cutting out a couple of the later parts in this chapters and adding them to Chapter Six to even things out. Other than that, I'm glad I finally got Nala and Simba together again, even if the circumstances aren't exactly ideal...and yes, Sarafina is dead. I tried to write her character as a headstrong, fearless one that knew exactly what spitting in the face of the tyrant (literally...) would result in, so hopefully that's how she came across.

Until next time, then...as always, thanks to Prince of Pride for betareading and to all of you that review. Please continue to do so.


	7. Chapter 6: The Summit

A/N: During the next couple of weeks, I'll be splitting my time between this story and a different one that I was recently inspired to write. The new one won't take long to finish as it's a songfic based on Metallica's "Unforgiven" trilogy, so there'll only be three chapters. I'll be alternating updates, so the next chapter I publish will be for "The Unforgiven", followed by "The Pridelanders", then "The Unforgiven" again, etc. Check out the songfic if you want...there won't be any familiar characters in it at all though, so I'm sorry to disappoint you if you were looking for a Pridelanders tie-in.

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Summit**

**Simba**

_When did it get so bright?_, I thought as the first rays of sunlight peeked over the horizon. I groaned and threw a forepaw over my eyes, half-blinded by the sudden onslaught of light. Even with them closed, the light from the sun was so intense that it shone right through my tightly shut eyelids. I gradually slid my paw down my face and squinted out into the grasslands. The full morning sun blazed in front of me, bathing the Pridelands in a fiery orange glow. As the ringing in my head died down, I glanced to my right. Nala was curled up into a tight ball beside me, still fast asleep despite the glare from the sun.

_At least the sun didn't wake her up_, I thought with a smile.

_The sun._

_The sun's up._

_It's morning… _

My eyes widened. _It's morning! I fell asleep!_

I swore under my breath and jumped to my feet in a panic. Immediately, my head smacked into the low ceiling and I tripped over Nala, my head throbbing even worse than before.

"Ow!" Nala complained as I collapsed across her back, clutching my aching skull with both forepaws. "Watch where you're going, you klutz!"

Several words came to mind, all of them four letters long and none of them very polite. Eventually, I just went with "Owww…"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you hurt yourself stepping on my head?" Nala continued in an annoyed voice.

"No…I hurt myself when I saw that," I moaned, motioning towards the sun with one paw while keeping the other clamped on my forehead.

Nala rolled her eyes. I don't think she understood what I meant. "I'd hate to see what happens when the moon's out…" she muttered. "Now will you get off me?" She squirmed around under me and roughly shoved me off of her back, knocking my head into the rock once again. I grimaced and bit back the various obscenities that sprang to mind.

"A simple 'please' would've done fine…" I replied through clenched teeth.

"What was that?"

My eyes shot open. That hadn't sounded like Nala's voice. It was deeper, almost as if a male lion had been speaking. But there weren't any male lions around anymore, or at least none with voices that deep. The only thing that could've said that was…

_A hyena_, I thought as an icy pick of terror stabbed through my chest. Instantly, I was on full alert. We weren't as alone up on the summit as I had thought. Nala hadn't noticed my fear, though, and she continued to complain as my eyes widened.

"Well, sorry if I was a little impolite, Simba!" she said loudly as she got to her feet. "Generally, I prefer not to be woken up by a fifty-pound lion jumping on me!"

"Nala, _shut up!_" I whispered desperately as I crouched back near the base of the ledge. "Someone's out there!"

Nala eyebrows nearly touched the craggy roof above our heads. I don't think she even heard the second part of what I said. "What did you say?!" she shot back indignantly. "Did you really just tell me to-?"

Another spike of fear crept down my spine as I heard footsteps echo just above my head. Before Nala could finish her sentence, I lurched forward and yanked her back under the overhang, holding her back with one paw while clamping the other over her mouth. Nala glared daggers at me as she grunted and struggled to escape, but I just pressed down harder and jerked my head up, motioning towards the overhang. Nala looked confused until the deep voice I had heard a moment before rang out again.

"You hear that?" it said. Nala's eyes widened and she fell silent. The voice sounded like it was right above us.

"Hear what?" a slightly fainter voice replied. I shivered. This voice was even deeper and creepier than the first.

"Coulda sworn I heard a kid talkin' over here…" the first voice continued, sounding a little unsure of himself. I closed my eyes and prayed to every ancient king I could think of that the hyena would go away. For once in my life, my prayers were answered.

"It's a sheer cliff over there. Maybe the runt's hanging with his tail wrapped around a rock like a monkey," the second voice replied sarcastically. "Quit chasin' after ghosts and get back into position. It's our job to find those damn cubs if they're dumb enough to come back here after last night."

There was silence for a moment, and then the first voice spoke up again. "Ah, I must be hearin' things. I'm going nuts in this freakin' bird's nest!"

The next thing I heard was the sound of pawsteps moving back across the summit plateau, the hyena's claws clicking loudly against the yellowing rock. Nala and I didn't move for almost a minute after the sound of the hyena's feet finally faded away entirely. Finally, I slowly let out my breath and loosened my grip on Nala. She fell away awkwardly and huddled up even closer to the back of the ledge, nearly shaking with fear.

"I almost got us caught…" Nala whispered quietly in a surprisingly wavery voice. I was shocked to see that she was near tears, and I realized that she felt awful about her ignorance.

"Hey, we didn't get caught, though," I said, rubbing up against her on a whim. "Please don't cry."

Nala took a quivering breath and squeezed her eyes shut, her head finding its way over to me in total blindness. I didn't move. I just let her lean into my shoulder and shielded her as best I could from the glare of both the sun and anyone that might be looking up (or down) at our hiding spot. Despite my best efforts to make her feel better, her eyes were still rimmed red when she looked up again.

"We're trapped, aren't we?" she murmured as she stared wistfully out into the grasslands. "There are probably a dozen hyenas on the path too, not to mention the two up there."

"There's another way down," I reassured her, at the same time trying to reassure myself. "There has to be."

Nala just shook her head and closed her eyes again. I left her side briefly and peeked over the edge of the plateau. Thankfully, I could only see the two hyenas I had heard a moment before standing on opposite ends of the plateau and facing out towards the grasslands, one on my left and the other on my right, but that was about it for good news. The one on the right was standing directly in front of the path we had used to get up onto the peak in the first place, and aside from the path I couldn't think of any other way to get back down to the ground. Nearly every point on the edge of the plateau was a sheer two hundred foot drop to the grasslands below. There were only two places where it was any different: right below us on the ledge and directly across from where I was hiding.

The ledge jutted out directly over the main promontory, which meant that we would only fall about a hundred and fifty feet before splattering on the rock below. So option A was out. That left the back of Pride Rock, where I thought I could remember the slope not being quite as steep. Assuming we could get past the two burly guards sharing the summit with her, we might be able to slip down the easier incline and escape that way, but it would still be an incredibly difficult climb that wouldn't be made any easier by the fact that both Nala and I were running on little sleep and no food. My stomach growled loudly as I thought of the zebra that I had left waiting back at the river caves, and I frantically slid back down onto the ledge with Nala again, convinced that my hunger had given us away. A few tense moments passed, and finally I sighed with relief as I realized that the hyenas were still oblivious to our presence on the summit.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do," I whispered to Nala. "Right across from us is a part of Pride Rock where the slope isn't as steep. We're going to sneak past both hyenas and climb down that way."

Nala looked at me skeptically. "Simba, I nearly fell a dozen times just walking up the path," she replied. "How am I supposed to climb down that?"

I rubbed my head with my forepaw and sighed. My skull was still aching from my rude awakening, and Nala's lack of faith wasn't helping. "Look, it's the only plan I can think of that doesn't involve a fight. Just try to dig your claws into the rock face, and I'll help you out as much as I can. I won't let you fall."

Nala bit her lip and stared down at her paws for a moment, then took a deep breath and looked up again. "All right. I'll try. How are we gonna distract the hyenas?"

"Hopefully, we won't have to. They should be focused on the Pridelands, so we'll just slip right between them and be down in the grasslands before they even know we're here."

"You're leaving a lot of this to chance…" Nala said uncertainly.

"Chance is all we have right now!" I hissed, finally losing my patience for a brief moment. I closed my eyes and took a slow breath, trying to regain my composure. "The longer we wait, the more chance we have of being caught," I continued softly. "Let's just go already."

Nala nodded, though she still looked extremely nervous and not at all sure about my ad-libbed plan. I led her up to the spot where I had scoped out the situation a few seconds earlier and took another look at the hyenas. They were still in the same positions they had been in before. Now was the perfect time to make a break for it.

"We'll go on three," I mouthed to Nala, who nodded jerkily with a nauseated look on her face. I grabbed her forepaw and gave it a quick squeeze before starting the countdown, barely whispering each word.

"One…"

Nala's eyes were like a frog on a hot summer day, bouncing up and down between my own eyes and my paw wrapped around hers.

"Two…"

The hyenas still hadn't moved an inch. Maybe this would actually work.

"Thr-"

"Hey, I think I see somethin'!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sudden outburst from the hyena sitting away from the path, and I ducked down below the plateau surface once again, my heart pounding impossibly loudly in my ears.

"Oh, so now you're seeing things too?" the other slightly larger hyena said skeptically. "What'll it be next, a couple cubs chuckin' rocks at you?"

"Shut up!" the first growled. "This one's real!"

I heard the clicking of claws against rock as the second hyena got to his feet and started walking. I was already on my feet and ready to attack when I realized that he wasn't coming in our direction. In fact, his footsteps sounded like they were heading towards where his partner was standing.

I slowly poked my head up over the edge again. Both hyenas were now standing on the left side of the plateau, one of them pointing at something out in the grasslands with his forepaw. A wide grin split my face as I caught sight of the path, totally unguarded. We wouldn't have to resort to scrambling down the cliffside like clawed monkeys.

"Looks like relying on chance isn't such a bad thing after all," I whispered down to Nala as she gazed at my smile with a confused look. "The hyenas aren't guarding the path anymore. I think we can get down that way." My heart skipped a beat as Nala's lips broke into a relieved grin to match my own. I blinked hard and tried to focus again, but it was impossible. Once again, Nala had turned my brain off. Why did this have to happen _right now_?

"Gods, I hate hormones," I grumbled under my breath as Nala pulled herself over the edge and looked down at me, waiting for me to follow. "You coming?" she mouthed as she held out a paw. I grinned again and let her pull me up onto the plateau. Once I was next to Nala, I took the lead and crept slowly towards our escape route. We were only a couple feet away when one of the hyenas spoke up again.

"Wait…I think I do see somethin'…" the larger one commented as he squinted at the horizon. "Is that…a lion?"

"I dunno…" his partner replied. "It looks too small…I think it's a cub."

I stopped on a dime and slowly turned towards the hyenas, the fur rising on the back of my neck. Tama's account of Scar's order flashed through my mind, and suddenly I wondered whether the order to exile all of the cubs still stood. What if the hyenas decided to go after this cub? I knew we had to get out of there quick, but I was rooted to the spot.

I could see Nala glaring at me out of the corner of my eye. She had nearly reached the trail and was motioning frantically for me to hurry up. Slowly, I began to creep closer to the path, still focused on the two hyenas sitting across from me.

"That's a lion cub?" the second one muttered skeptically. "I thought most of 'em were tannish…"

I stopped again.

"Nah, there's a couple brown ones," the first one countered. "Like that one, oh, what's-his-name…"

_Oh no, don't let be him…it can't be him…_, I begged silently, still frozen a few feet from freedom.

"Tama?" the second one answered.

"Yeah…actually, that one looks a lot like him…"

I felt sick. Tama had come back looking for us. He would be slaughtered. Suddenly, the spell was broken, and without another wasted second I broke into a sprint for the unguarded path. I had to get down and warn him before he got too close. Before he got caught. Before we all got caught.

The next few moments seemed to pass in slow motion. I saw the rock jutting out in front of my foot, but I couldn't dodge it. It was like I was watching myself trip from far away, like a dream. I fell hard, sliding to a halt a few inches away. I wouldn't have been surprised if Nala's eyes had popped out of her skull entirely.

"What the…" I heard one of the hyenas mutter behind me. "Hey! Don't move, either of you!"

I glanced up at Nala, whose panic-stricken face I would never forget. No matter what happened to me, I couldn't let her be captured again.

"Go, Nala!" I shouted as I jumped to my feet. "I'll hold them off long enough for you to escape!"

"I can't just leave you here!" she yelled back in a frightened voice.

"I'm not asking you, Nala, I'm telling you! Get out-"

My voice died in my throat as I was knocked across the peak by one of the hyenas. I heard Nala scream as I slid closer and closer to the edge of the plateau, finally stopping just in time to avoid falling over entirely. I jumped up and slashed at the black blur that had materialized in front of me, and the hyena yelped as my claws sliced across his face. I ducked under his retaliatory swipe and slashed again, this time opening up a long jagged gash in his stomach. The hyena howled and snapped at me, but I was too fast. Adrenaline had given me an uncanny sense of awareness, and I saw every blow coming almost before the hyena moved. I was untouchable.

The hyena stumbled away after I scratched him across the chest a second time, fury shining in his eyes. I ran after him, an angry snarl escaping from my throat. This beast had tried to kill me. Tried to kill Nala. I was going to destroy it, just like any other animal. I was the hunter, and the hyena was just my helpless prey.

The hyena finally fell a few feet away, unable to move. Dark red blood oozed out from the wounds I had inflicted, staining the rock below him. I pounced and landed on top of him, extending my back claws and digging into the skin of his stomach. My victim groaned in agony, and as I unsheathed the claws in my right forepaw I saw fear sweep across his ugly face. I smiled, in a perverted way enjoying the terror I was striking into this creature's very soul. I had won. I could let him go. He wouldn't bother me anymore.

I didn't care.

With a final roar, I brought down the forepaw I had been holding aloft and ripped through the hyena's throat. A spray of crimson flew from the incision, showering the surface of Pride Rock with yet another rusty smear. The hyena stared directly into my eyes, utter terror jumbling together with disbelief. I glared back, absolute rage coursing through every nerve and muscle in my body.

"You…" the hyena gargled, the light behind his eyes fading constantly. The black look in my eyes was the last thing he ever saw. With a final sigh, the hyena was no more.

For an eternity, I stood over my kill, flashing back through what I had just done. Once again, I fell into a dreamlike state, feeling like I was watching myself stare at the broken body under my paws from above. My fur was covered in dark red flecks, and my right forepaw was completely coated in the quickly congealing blood of my enemy. Had I really just killed him? Had I really been able to take a life so easily, so quickly…so willingly? There was hunting…and then there was murder. Where did the line start? Where did it end?

A piercing cry brought me back to the summit. Nala. Where was Nala?

I turned around slowly, my blood-soaked paw leaving a sickening red trail on the dusty yellow stone. Nala was pinned beneath the larger hyena, his forepaw pressing down roughly on her neck. Nala was struggling valiantly, but her captor didn't even blink.

"I think that's enough," the hyena spat, briefly glancing at his fallen comrade before returning his spiteful gaze to me. "You've done enough damage for one day."

"Let her go," I said in a low voice. "Or you get the same as him."

The hyena feigned shock, but his malicious smile gave away his true sentiments. "Oh, I'm all aquiver…but whatever would happen to your little lady friend if you attacked me? I've such terrible aim…I might slice her pretty neck to ribbons if I was startled."

I slowly advanced towards the hyena, but stopped when he shoved Nala closer to the edge of the plateau. "Aah, aah, aah…" he cackled. "She dies if you take another step."

_But she'll die if I _don't_ take another step!_ I screamed inside my head. _She can't breathe!_

The hyena's lips pulled back into an infuriating sneer. "Oh, I do hope he doesn't try anything heroic, my dear," he said to Nala. "I'd just hate to have to kill two lionesses in one day…and it's not even noon yet!"

My eyes narrowed. This was the hyena that had killed the lioness I had seen last night. This one deserved to die even more than his friend. Curiosity won out over anger, though. I had to know whose life had been sacrificed so we could live.

"Who was it?" I asked, barely controlling the rage I felt. "I hope you have enough of a soul in that twisted, evil heart of yours to at least know the name of the lion you murdered!"

"Well, isn't someone a filthy little hypocrite!" the hyena snarled, pressing down even harder on Nala's windpipe for a fleeting moment. "I don't suppose you know who you just executed back there, hmm?"

"Don't change the subject," I growled back.

"Change the subject? That _is _the subject, you little brat! You say we're murdering scum, so what does that make you? A martyr, sacrificing his saintly innocence for the good of his own kind? Or are you just a monster, like you claim we are?"

I glared at the hyena, trying desperately not to show the war that was going on behind my eyes. What was I? I had thought I was innocent. I only killed to survive, nothing more. But then the hyena had attacked me. Would he really have killed me? Was it even necessary to end his life? Once again, the lifeless stare of the hyena filled my vision as I glanced at the corpse behind me.

_What have I done?_

I blinked hard and turned around. I would have time to think later. Right now, I had to get both Nala and myself off this rock alive.

"I'm not gonna ask again," I said slowly. "Who…was…it?"

"His name was Kipele, by the way. He had a mate, a pregnant one too…or at least he did, until you decided to rip out his-"

"I don't give a damn who he was! _Who did you kill, you bastard_?"

The hyena scratched his chin with one claw while keeping his other paw firmly wrapped around Nala's neck. "Now who was it? I can't seem to recall…" The hyena feigned deep thought and tapped his chin again. "Oh, what was her name…Samba, Sarah, Fiona..."

My heart dropped into my feet. "Sarafina?" I suggested, hoping beyond hope that he wouldn't know who I was talking about.

The hyena's eyes lit up, and he looked back at me with a vicious grin. "Yeah, that was it…Sarafina, the annoying broad who just couldn't leave well enough alone. I take it you knew her? Small world…"

Nala's eyes widened, then she went completely limp, all hope gone. Instantly, it felt like the hyena's paw was clasped around my throat instead of Nala's. I couldn't breathe. I could barely even think. Only one singular thought ran circles in my mind: _Nala's gonna hate me._ Moments later, that terrible sentence was shoved into obscurity by a more familiar but no less appalling one: _It's my fault._

"Well, well, well…" the hyena chuckled softly. "The monster has feelings."

"_Shut up!_" I roared, taking another foolhardy step towards the hyena. Nala's head now hung almost all the way over the fringe of the summit.

"I wouldn't do that, little one…" the hyena said, his sinister leer growing even bigger. "You never know when she might slip…"

I was trapped. Nala was almost entirely out of air, but I had no way to rescue her without risking her life even more.

"Take me," I begged. "I'll go with you. I'll let you do whatever you want to me. Just let her go."

"I can let go of her anytime you want me to," he replied. "Maybe she'll even get lucky and pass out before she hits the ground again. Two hundred feet is a long way to fall…"

My shoulders sagged involuntarily. That was it. There was no way out. Nala was as good as dead, and so was I. I closed my eyes and tried to keep the tears back. I wasn't going to give this scumbag the satisfaction of seeing me reduced to such a low level. If I was going to die, I was going to make him remember me.

I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut even tighter. If only I hadn't tripped on that rock. If only I hadn't been so slow. If we had just run for the gentler slope…

The gentler slope.

The gentler slope had been right across from the ledge.

The ledge was right behind me. Nala and the hyena were directly in front of me.

My eyes shot open. Maybe we did have a chance after all. Immediately, I felt a new surge of confidence, and once again I began to walk forward towards the hyena. This time, I didn't stop.

The hyena shoved down even harder on Nala's neck, but I could just barely see his pupils dilate. He was scared.

"Are you deaf, or do you just have a death wish?" the hyena snarled as his back legs tensed. "I said stay _back_!"

"Why?" I asked loudly, allowing my newfound courage to take over. "I'm trapped. There's no way I can get off this rock alive." I let a crazed grin spread across my face. "And if I'm gonna die…might as well take you with me."

Now the hyena's eyes widened in full. "Don't take another step!" he said, his voice slightly higher than normal. "Don't think I won't kill her!"

"Go ahead," I replied, still grinning like a maniac. "It'll be worth it when I rip your heart out while it's still beating."

Under the hyena's paw, Nala was finally losing her battle to stay conscious. I saw her eyelids flutter briefly, then slowly close. Right before she passed out, though, Nala managed to choke out one word with her last gasp of air: my name.

"Simba…" she moaned softly in a last desperate plea for help. Then she was gone.

Recognition hit the hyena like a landslide. The shock of realizing who he was fighting against was enough to make him finally loosen his grip on Nala, and he stared at me in utter amazement as I marched closer, confusion turning into disbelief and then, for some reason, anger.

"You…" he spat, dropping Nala entirely and glaring at me. I saw my chance to strike and took it without hesitation. The hyena was on his back before he could even growl in protest.

"Now what do I do with you?" I mused innocently, my paw crushing the hyena's throat just like he had done with Nala. "I wouldn't try anything heroic, if I were you…I've such terrible aim, I might slice you into ribbons if I was startled."

"You're awfully cocky for someone who's been hiding like a little field mouse while his kingdom burned around him!" the hyena hissed as he struggled to breathe.

"You're awfully cocky for someone who just got pinned by a cub," I countered, eyebrows raised. "Now are you gonna let us go? Or should I just become the monster you seem to think I am?" I extended my claws in my free paw and clicked them together as menacingly as I could.

In hindsight, the look on the hyena's face when I said that was fairly priceless. Too bad it was only there for a split second before he grinned again.

"All right, you've beaten me," he said, raising his paws in defeat. "You can escape. Congratulations. But aren't you forgetting something?"

My paw was still clamped down on the hyena's windpipe, but I tensed up all the same. There was something unnerving about the confidence in his voice. "Enlighten me," I said slowly, still not taking my eyes off my captive.

The hyena's grin grew wider. "I'm talking about your little lady friend, of course. More specifically, the one that's about to fall two hundred feet to her death."

I whipped my head around and saw with quickly dawning horror exactly what he was talking about. When the hyena had let go of Nala, she had been hanging partially over the edge of the plateau, and while I had been focused on dealing with her captor, gravity had taken its toll on her limp form. As I watched helplessly, she slowly slid farther and farther over the rim of the plateau until finally she just disappeared over the edge. The hyena was right. Two hundred feet was a long way to fall.

In an instant, I forgot all about the hyena. The easier slope wasn't as sheer as the rest of Pride Rock, but with no one to slow her descent Nala would still be killed instantly when she reached the bottom. I had to catch her before that happened.

Once again, the world moved in slow motion. As the hyena laughed somewhere above me, I threw myself over the edge and sprinted down the steep slope, barely managing to keep my feet under me. Ahead of me (or below me, I guess), Nala's unconscious body bounced down the side of Pride Rock, miraculously missing sharp edge after jutting ledge. Her constant contact with the rock face slowed her just enough for me to be able to catch up to her before she had fallen more than a hundred feet. The only problem was, once I got there I couldn't stop. I had long since exhausted my ability to control the speed of my descent, and by the time I succeeded in grabbing Nala in my forepaws I was in more of a semi-controlled fall than a coordinated sprint. Once I had Nala in my grasp, I tried to dig my back claws into the rock and slow us down, but we were moving much too fast. My claws scrabbled uselessly against the stone beneath us as we continued to pick up speed. Up became down and down became sideways as my somewhat controlled slide morphed into a disorienting roll, and I wrapped myself tighter around Nala, determined to take the brunt of the fall.

Through my blurred and twisted view of the world, I briefly saw a flash of dark blue. Water. There was a lake right below us. The water was our last chance at survival. I did my best to steer us towards the lake, then closed my eyes and waited for the end to come. Once again I prayed to anything I could think of, this time for the water to be our salvation.

And for the second time in my life, my prayers were answered.

About twenty feet above the ground was a tiny bump in the side of Pride Rock, barely five feet long and jutting out no more than two or three feet. If we had simply been standing on it, we never would have made it even close to the cool blue surface of the lake below us. Rolling right over it in what was essentially a freefall, however, was a different story altogether. Nala was knocked from my grasp as we were sent flying out into the open air, the water stretching out below us. I opened my eyes just long to see the undisturbed surface of the lake rushing up at me, and my scream was cut short by an explosion of frothy white bubbles as I slammed into the water.

For several agonizing moments, I was completely disoriented again. All of the air in my lungs had been knocked out by the force of my impact, and once again my sense of direction was shot to hell. Everything was a blur of white and blue. I kicked blindly, trusting my natural buoyancy to steer me towards the air.

I broke the surface with a giant gasp just as the last remnants of my strength were fading away. I sucked in breath after breath, half laughing and half crying. I was blind, I was dizzy, and every part of my body felt like it was on fire. But I was alive. I had escaped. I was free.

Suddenly, I remembered Nala. I hadn't seen her come up yet. My worst fear was confirmed when I saw the thin trail of bubbles snaking up from the bottom of the lake. We weren't out of danger yet. I took in one last huge breath and dove underwater, somehow finding the energy to search for my best friend in the world.

I found Nala quickly enough. The trail of shining globes led me right down to her, lying motionless on the lakebed nearly fifteen feet underwater. The pressure on my temples was almost unbearable, but I kept swimming anyway. After everything we had been through in the last twenty-four hours, I would not let it end like this. We were going to get out of this together or not at all.

I grabbed the nape of Nala's neck in my jaws and kicked hard up towards the surface, every bit of energy I had left focused on the shimmering white sphere of the sun floating at the surface. My chest felt like it was about to explode, and the overpowering feeling of lightheadness filling my brain got worse with every passing second. The water was calling out to me, telling me to give in and rest for a moment, telling me that I'd never make it, telling me to stop kicking and just float away. I kicked harder. I wasn't going to stop until I passed out…or worse.

Just as the edges of my vision started to go black, my head came into contact with the air again, my first frantic breath searing my throat raw. Slowly, I started kicking again, sucking in tiny gulps of air through my clenched teeth and doing my best to keep Nala's head above water. Somehow, I found the strength to swim to shore and climb up onto the bank, where I gently laid Nala down on the sand before even thinking about catching my breath.

Despite all my efforts to save her, Nala still didn't move even after we made it onto dry land. I should've been terrified, but for some reason I just felt numb. I sluggishly flipped Nala over onto her back and started pounding on her chest and stomach with my forepaws, salty tears mixing with the lake water on my face as I blindly held onto the faint hope that she was still alive. Finally, I could go no further. My vision had faded to a dim tunnel, and with every last bit of strength I had I slammed down one last time on her stomach, an angry sob giving me an extra burst of power. It accomplished nothing. I sat back and let one sob turn into several. Freedom was useless. What was the point if I still couldn't save the ones I loved? The tears fell faster. It was over. After all of my struggles and all of my triumphs, I had still lost.

------------------------------

At first, I thought the spray of water that hit my face suddenly was a last parting shot from the watery deep that had taken so much from me already. It wasn't content to just steal away one of the only lions in the world that I cared about; it had to humiliate me. My claws came out. Someone was going to pay. Then I heard a violent cough, and the sand beneath my feet shuddered as something moved in front of me.

I opened my eyes.

Nala was on her stomach, retching up a steady stream of water onto the ground in front of her. I stood up, disbelief completely encompassing my brain. How was she still alive? How had she survived so long underwater? How badly was she still hurt?

Who cared?

I moved closer and slapped Nala hard on the back, forcing more water to come flying out of her shaking jaws. After another minute of painful coughs and convulsions, she stopped shuddering and looked up at me, her eyes shining.

"We made it," she whispered.

"Yeah," I said, my voice cracking with happiness. "We made it."

Seeing Nala alive brought a strange sort of peace, and with that peace all of my emotions came rushing back at once. Fear, anger, sorrow, and elation each flew through my mind before being smothered by an overwhelming sense of fatigue. The world flipped on its side as I collapsed onto the sand, every last bit of strength in my veins seeming to evaporate into the air just like the water off my fur.

Somewhere far away, Nala was calling my name, but even that faded away after a few seconds. Now there was only sight to guide me. I saw the surface of the water, the ripples from our rough landing already smoothing out into nothing. I saw the tall green blades of grass swaying slightly in the breeze, constantly sliding in and out of focus. Finally, I saw Nala, weakened but still strong enough to shout something I could no longer hear. Her lips went still as a shadow fell over me, and my vision finally went the same way as my hearing. The last thing I saw before passing out was relief spreading across Nala's face, a blissful change from the worry and fear that had plagued it for so long. I smiled and closed my eyes. Whoever the mysterious figure was behind me, he was a friend. I didn't have to worry anymore.

After a long night of death being just a step behind us, we were finally safe.

* * *

I'm not sure how this chapter ended up so short. It seemed so complete in the outline...whatever.

Anyway, they've finally escaped...but who was the mysterious shadow that fell over Simba? And what was Tama doing during all of this? Stay tuned for the answers...or at least, part of the answer for the latter question. I will be going into more depth with that, just not in the next chapter.

Once again, it's time for a different approach to reviews. This time, I'd like for you to focus on a specific topic in addition to your normal feelings, specifically the "wow factor" (or lack thereof) in my story. The "wow factor" is basically what it sounds like: the part of a story, movie, or song that makes you say "wow...". This "factor" can be anything, from the imagery, dialogue, and emotional content to the characters, setting, or even simply the plot. Stephen King has the "wow factor" in his ability to hauntingly and effectively describe the innermost passions and fears of his characters, as well as the eerie and in many cases sinister nature of the various creepy-crawlies that said characters encounter. Another example that springs to mind is a bit more local: Lion Sheikh and his character Freak, who makes you cringe in disgust while at the same time drawing out a deep compassion for the always misunderstood li-tigon. Like I said, the "wow factor" can be anything.

Basically, what I'd like to know is whether you think my story has a "wow factor" like the ones I've described. If it does, what is it? If it doesn't, what's the one aspect that, with a little work, could turn into one? If you're not sure, I don't want you to feel any pressure to answer; this is just something I'd like to have some outside opinions on if it's not too much trouble.


	8. Chapter 7: The Pridelanders

**A/N:** The name Tojo is copyrighted to the authors and artists of _De Foreldreløse Fuglene_ ('The Orphan Birds'). The characters of Kivuli, Tani, Afya, Usiku, Jua, Uruzi, Kima, and Amani are all my own O/Cs and should not be used in other stories without my consent. So in other words, just take two minutes to tell me before you go off stealing my characters, and we won't have any problems. Also, all of the characters introduced in this chapter are all figments of my slightly deranged imagination (with the obvious exception of Tojo), and therefore any similarities in name or personality to any other fan fiction characters are entirely coincidental.

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Pridelanders**

**Simba**

_You…_

"I don't know, Nala…"

_A martyr, sacrificing his saintly innocence for the good of his own kind?_

"…been like this all day…"

_Or are you just a monster, like you claim we are?_

"…give him time. I'm sure he's fine."

_What have I done?_

With a tiny sigh, my eyes cracked open.

I was back at the river caves, lying on my side inside the chamber I normally slept in. Outside, the world was bathed in twilight, the last rays of sunlight barely illuminating the dusty ground. I tried to move, but fell back as a agonizingly sharp pain exploded behind my eyes. I groaned involuntarily and squeezed my eyes shut, feverishly praying for the pack of warthogs trapped inside my skull to please stop ripping out chunks of my brain.

When I finally let my eyelids spring open again, Nala was staring at me with huge eyes and an equally sized grin. I hadn't even noticed her standing near the wall.

"Simba! _You're alive_!" she squealed as she dove on top of me and squeezed me into a gut-busting hug, making my head throb even more. I couldn't help but smile, though. Just being that close to her seemed to make my headache melt away into the rocky floor of the cave.

"He won't be for much longer if you keep going on like that," Tama commented as he stepped out from the shadows. Although he wasn't as enthusiastic as Nala, the relief on his face was unmistakable. Nala had realized what she was doing by then, and she stared at me for a moment before jumping off me and slowly backing away, biting her lip sheepishly.

"Sorry about that…" she said quietly, almost crying with happiness despite her embarrassment. "I bet your head hurts, doesn't it?"

I grinned weakly. "Yeah...can't say I'm surprised, though. How'd I get back here?"

"I came looking for you when you didn't show up this morning," Tama said. "Nearly gave me a heart attack when I saw you laid out next to the lake."

I chuckled softly. "How long was I out?"

"Way too long," he answered. "We were afraid you'd never wake up, especially with that giant bump on your head."

"What bump?" I asked as I probed around my scalp with a forepaw. It didn't take me long to find the lump he was talking about, right on the back of my skull. I gingerly touched the egg-sized knot with one paw toe and cringed as another spike of pain stabbed through my already aching cranium.

"Oh…" I groaned, feeling a little sick to my stomach. "That bump."

"Nala, maybe you'd better go find him something to eat," Tama gently suggested. "I think that zebra he caught is still around here somewhere."

Nala got the hint, but she still seemed incredibly reluctant to leave. If she did want to stay, she didn't show it, though, and before I knew it she was padding out into the clearing again, my eyes on her back the whole time. For some reason, I was disappointed to see her go. I must have hit my head even harder than I thought.

"You sure you're okay, Simba?" Tama said once Nala had disappeared around the corner, his voice turning serious again. "You looked a little green for a minute there."

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just getting used to my lovely little souvenir from this morning," I grumbled as I tentatively rolled onto my stomach. "It was this morning, right?"

Tama chuckled. "Don't worry, you weren't out that long. You were really only asleep for a few hours."

"A few hours?" I shot back incredulously. "It's almost night! I must have scared the living hell out of you guys!"

Tama looked down and shrugged. "I figured you'd wake up eventually…Nala was pretty keyed up, though." He looked up and saw the expression on my face. "She's fine now, though," he added quickly. "I mean, you're awake, right?"

"Yeah, but I feel exhausted," I said as I rubbed my eyes. "Guess I still need my beauty sleep."

Tama grinned. "It'd take a lot more than a day of beauty sleep to get you looking any different, Simba." I smiled back and rolled my eyes. At least Tama was acting like his normal self. Now there was just Nala to worry about. Suddenly, I remembered what the hyena had said to me on top of Pride Rock.

_Sarafina...I forgot all about her. She just lost her mother...,_ I thought worriedly._ And then almost me for the second time. Gods, I can't even imagine what she's going through right now._ I made a silent promise that I would try to talk to her about it the next chance I got.

"Simba?" Tama asked loudly, interrupting my reverie with a quizzical stare. "You still there?"

I realized that I had left Tama hanging while I was agonizing over Nala. "Sorry…how did the escape go?"

Tama glanced away for a moment, and I was shocked to see a look of doubt cross his face briefly. "It didn't go as well as it could have," he finally said, sounding more than a little disappointed. Whether it was just with what had happened the previous night or with himself, I couldn't tell.

"Why?" I asked a bit apprehensively. "What happened?"

Tama didn't answer for a long moment. When he did, it was in a quiet, emotionless voice. "Nothing," he intoned. "There were just a couple…unexpected problems."

"Like Nala getting captured?"

"Yeah, that was one of them…"

One_ of them?_ _What is he not telling me?_

I briefly considered pressing Tama for more information, but it was pretty obvious that he didn't feel like talking about it. If it was something I needed to know about, he would tell me. Otherwise, it'd probably be best if I left him to his thoughts. Tama was weird like that. He was one of the only lions I'd ever met who kept his worries hidden inside himself like that, hardly ever revealing them to me, Nala, or even his own mother. Sometimes, it felt like there was a part of him that didn't want help, even when he plainly needed it. Right now was one of those times.

I cleared my throat and tried to change the subject. "So…how many cubs did you end up bringing back last night?" I asked.

"I don't know…eight, I think."

My eyes went wide. "_Eight?_ That's unbelievable! Are there even eight cubs in the whole pride?"

"No," Tama muttered despondently. "There were eighteen."

_Oh, crap,_ I cursed silently as Tama looked away. _What am I supposed to say to that? _This was clearly the point where I needed to say something totally uplifting, something that would snap my best friend out of this self-depreciating funk he was in once and for all. So after several seconds of careful deliberation, I opened my mouth to speak.

"Oh," I said.

_Way to go, Simba._

"Well, you still got eight of them..." I continued, trying to back out of the hole I had unwittingly fallen into. "Heck, I was lucky I got out with just Nala."

"You don't understand…" Tama said a little coldly.

"No, I don't understand, Tama," I said as I finally got to my feet. "You won't let me. And I can't figure out why."

Tama looked confused, but at the same time a little…angry? "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about this!" I replied, motioning at his mournful expression. "You're so messed up about last night, but you won't even tell me what it is you're so messed up about! Let me help you!"

Tama's eyes narrowed. "I'm fine. I don't need help."

"_Yes, you do!_ Why do you keep fighting me about this?"

"Because I have to…"

"Why the hell would you have to-"

"_Because I have to prove myself!_" Tama shouted, finally turning his blazing eyes on me.

I was shocked into silence. Tama glared for a moment, then turned away and stared at the floor. When he spoke again, his voice sounded normal, but I could have sworn he was holding back tears.

_He's trying to be strong…_, I realized. _But why?_

"There were eighteen other cubs when you first left," he said softly. "Besides me and Nala. Three died, two ran away...and eight came with me last night."

"That leaves five others," I said slowly, almost dreading the answer to the question I was about to ask. "What happened to them?"

For almost a minute, Tama was silent. I looked away and tried to be patient. The last thing I needed to do was rush him.

"Last night, I told them about you…about how you were really alive," he finally said. "Some of them, the eight that came here, believed me." He fell silent again for a moment before continuing in an even lower tone than before. "Some of them didn't."

I walked a little closer to where Tama was staring at the wall of the cave. "What did they do?"

"Kivuli, he was the one that started it all," Tama said before choking out a strangled laugh. "It's funny…all those times he sat on his ass watching us starve, then all of a sudden it's like he's the freakin' prince."

I sat down next to Tama as quietly as I could. He didn't notice.

"Kivuli said I was crazy. He said…" Tama closed his eyes, and I began to wonder whether I should put a paw on his shoulder. But before I could make up my mind, his eyes shot open again.

"He said there was no way I could lead them out of there," my friend murmured. "He said there was only one way that we could avoid exile."

Once again, I dreaded the answer to the question I was about to ask. "And that way was…?"

Tama swallowed hard, and he closed his eyes one last time. "They joined him, Simba," he whispered. "They joined him, and I couldn't stop them."

Suddenly, the source of my friend's agony became horribly clear. "Scar? They joined Scar?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

Tama nodded slowly, his eyes screwed up tight. Somehow, he was still holding it together, but I knew that wouldn't last long.

"I'm sorry, Simba…" he whispered in a strained voice. I stared, comprehension finally dawning on me. I finally knew exactly what was bothering him. And at the same time, I also finally knew exactly what I could say to make him feel better.

"Tama, do you know how many lions are in the average pride?" I said suddenly.

Once again, Tama was confused. "I don't know…didn't our pride have about forty?"

"I went with my dad a couple times to visit a few other ones. None of them had more than ten."

"So?"

"You rescued eight cubs last night. Throw in you, me, and Nala…that's eleven. That's a pride." Finally, I put my paw on his shoulder. "That's our pride."

A ghost of a smile floated across my friend's face. "Yeah…that's pretty cool, I guess."

"Pretty cool? I think I described it as 'unbelievable'. We're not even two years old, and we've got our own pride when most cubs hardly even know what a pride is. Forget about the others. If they were too stupid to follow you out of there, that's their problem."

Tama didn't answer, but he also didn't look like he was about to start sobbing anymore. I was glad to see that he was feeling at least a little better.

"Tama, if we're gonna survive out here, I'm gonna need you and Nala to help me," I said in the most humble voice I could muster. "You're as much of a leader as I am…maybe even more than me. They trust you, and with good reason."

At last, Tama turned to face me. None of the anger and worry that I had seen before remained, instead replaced by the confident air that I had always known Tama to have. My old friend was back.

"So if you think about it, what do you even have to be depressed about?" I finished with a grin.

"Not much," he laughed in reply. "I guess you're right. Thanks for waking me up."

"It was either that or a smack across the face…which is still an option, by the way."

Tama laughed again. "I'm good, thanks."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Nala mumbled as she walked in again and spat out the huge slab of meat clasped in her jaws. "I swear, any more of that mushy crap and you two might as well have been making out."

My face flooded with heat under my fur, and Tama and I both jumped away from each other simultaneously, an identical look of disgust on our faces. For a moment, all three of us were totally motionless, then Nala broke the silence. In a big way.

"It's not funny!" I grumbled as she rolled around on the ground in front of me, nearly crying with laughter.

"Yes...it is!" she gasped. "You two...looked like you were gonna hurl!" She dissolved into another laughing fit, and I was surprised to see Tama crack a smile next to me.

"She's right," he admitted lightheartedly. "We did look kinda stupid."

I felt my anger melt away as I watched tears finally begin to stream down Nala's face, and soon I was chuckling too. Finally, Nala stood up and cleared her throat, her fur dirty and a broad grin still stretched out across her face.

"Well, anyway, I brought you back some of the zebra," she said with an airy sigh. "If you're feeling better, you can come see the rest of the cubs once you're done."

In an instant, my hunger completely slipped my mind. I hadn't realized how anxious I was to see my eight new followers until Nala had mentioned them.

"I'm not hungry. Let's go now!" I said excitedly, not bothering to wait for my friends to catch up as I jogged out of the cave. It was time to see what my new pride looked like.

I walked out of the cave slowly, gazing around at the motley crew of cubs scattered around the clearing. Several gasps rang out as I stepped out into the twilight, and I even heard one voice mutter "So he wasn't lying…". Without warning, my nervousness returned in full force. Would I live up to the expectations of so many? Would I be able to keep such a large group under control and, more importantly, safe? For the first time in my life, I briefly wished I wasn't the son of a king.

_You can't think like that_, I told myself. _You have to be strong, or they'll never respect you._ I set my face and sat down, trying to hide my uneasiness behind a mask of false indifference. As Tama and Nala finally emerged from the cave behind me, the cubs continued to stare, their expressions silently announcing what I knew they were all thinking: _What now?_

As I studied the crowd once again, I was relieved to see a few familiar faces. To my left sat Tojo, a pudgy light brown male cub with baby blue eyes that was a few weeks younger than me. I remembered Tojo as fun to be around as well as a bit naïve, and I was happy to see that he had chosen to follow Tama. Right behind Tojo was his right-hand man and best friend, Tani. Tani had a dark yellow pelt, a thick brow, and golden yellow eyes, and he rarely showed any maturity at all despite being nearly two months older than me and at least thirty pounds heavier. He was strong as a rhino and about as smart, but he was still a good guy and definitely one that you'd want to have on your side in a fight.

Standing under a tree behind Tojo and Tani was Afya, a bright yellow female cub with a wispy tail tuft and hazel eyes. I didn't know her very well since she was at least four months younger than me, but I had heard story after story from Tama about a certain cub that was smarter than the rest of the pride combined. Judging by the bright inquisitive look in her eyes, I figured Afya was our resident genius.

My gaze slid to the right, and a strangely mismatched pair of cubs lying just inside one of the other caves quickly caught my eye. With a groan, I recognized Usiku and his little sister Jua. Usiku, a well-built male cub with olive eyes that was about a month older than me, was aptly named after his nearly jet black pelt and tail tuft and his trademark scowl. He was great in a fight but also famous for being eternally sarcastic and often a bit antisocial, two traits that I wasn't looking forward to dealing with in the coming months. His little sister Jua, a delicate-looking pale tan female cub with huge ears and golden eyes, wasn't much better. She was fairly quick on her feet but dreamy to a fault, and more often than not she would drift off into her own little world and completely ignore anything and everything around her.

As if that wasn't enough, another female cub I saw lounging near the entrance to my cave gave me another reason to worry about the future of my so-called pride. It was Uruzi, the last lioness I wanted to see while I still had a headache. As far as looks went, Uruzi was irresistible with her impeccable silvery tan coat and seductive ruby red eyes. The problem was, she knew exactly how well-endowed she was and never passed up the chance to abuse her natural gifts, whether it was to con something from an unsuspecting adult or simply to rub it in your face. Plus, I had been told she was finicky to the point of flat-out refusing to hunt with the other lionesses, and I couldn't imagine her even watching a fight, let alone taking part in one. My day just kept getting better and better.

And to make matters worse, Uruzi was the last cub I even had a vague hope of knowing. All that was left was a smallish tan female cub with a light brown tail tuft and electric blue eyes that I was pretty sure I had never seen before, and…

Wait a minute. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…

"Tama?" I whispered out of the corner of my mouth. "I thought you said there were eight cubs…"

"There are," he muttered back before raising his voice. "Kima! Get out of the tree!"

I looked up. A scrawny dark brown male cub with a black spot right in the center of his chest was jumping around in the tree above Afya. I closed my eyes and groaned again. Kima was a hyper rascal of a cub that was six months younger than me. He was a good kid, but I could clearly remember his one defining characteristic: he never _ever_ shut up.

"But it's so cool up here!" he yelled down in a raspy high-pitched voice. "Like, there's a hundred branches and I think a bird's nest but no eggs and a weird lizard and a knot that looks like a face and-"

"Kima!" I hollered, my head already spinning from our one-sided conversation.

Kima's light brown eyes lit up, and he grinned as he looked down at me. "Hey, Simba! I haven't seen you in ages! It was so boring with you gone 'cause I never had _anyone_ to talk to!"

"What a world…" I said dryly. "You mind getting down now?"

"Sure, no problem. Just let me…whoa!" Kima's paw slipped off of the branch he was stepping onto, and with a panicked yell he dropped like a rock right onto Afya's back, earning him a squeal and a hearty shove. Once his feet found the ground again, Kima stood up dizzily, his face flushed and his fur covered in dust.

"I'm okay..." he coughed as he shook his head, still sounding as exuberant as ever.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and turned to face the rest of the group. "Okay, now that we're all more or less here, let's get started. I've never been any good at speeches, so I'm just gonna start talking and assume you're listening. Simply put, Scar is the enemy. He killed my dad and he almost killed me. He almost killed all of us."

Now I knew I had their attention. I puffed out my chest a little bit and continued, an extra bit of passion garnishing my words.

"But all that's behind us now. We're all here, and that means that Scar's days on the throne are numbered. Once we're ready, we'll take back Pride Rock. All of us. Together."

I was on a roll. Time to finish strong. I took a deep breath and put as much feeling as I could into my last sentence.

"We are the future of the Pridelands," I concluded dramatically. No one said a word. I fell silent and covertly bit my lip.

_Is that good or bad?_, I wondered as my pride stared, still quiet as field mice. Finally, Usiku broke the silence.

"Okay, great," he said in a deep, emotionless voice. "Who's 'we'?"

And just like that, my confidence was gone. Crap.

"Wh...what's that supposed to mean?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound as intimidated as I felt.

Usiku shrugged. "Just figured our pride should have a name, that's all."

I blinked, my jaw opening and closing but nothing coming out. In all the times I had spent fantasizing about having my own pride, it had never even occurred to me to consider what we were going to call ourselves. We couldn't just go nameless, but I was drawing a blank on ideas.

I turned to the rest of the cubs and tried to regroup. "Well, we're all part of this pride. Who's got a thought?"

Surprisingly, Tani was the first one to volunteer. "How about 'The Lion's Strength'?" he said quickly.

"Right, because strength is all that matters, I suppose?" Afya grumbled, still sore from Kima's rough landing. "Give me a break."

Nala was next. "What about 'Mufasa's Children'?"

"But Simba's the only one that's actually his son," Tama said, for some reason sounding a little bit jealous. "Our name should apply to everyone."

"I got it!" Kima yelled. "'The Super Awesome Secret Ninja Death Squad!" Kima paused for effect. "…of Awesomeness."

"Or we could just call ourselves 'The Angry Antelopes' and get the same amount of respect," Usiku added with a roll of his eyes. With that, any chance of an organized debate was thrown to the hyenas, and the whole clearing dissolved into a frenzy of shouting and arguing. So far, the search for a name was going just _beautifully._

"Uh…guys?" I said loudly. Everyone either ignored me or didn't hear me over the shouting match.

"_HEY!_" I screamed. That got their attention, and the whole group went silent again as I glared at them.

"Okay...let's try this again," I said slowly, doing my best to stay calm. "Everyone that has an idea, raise their paw."

No one moved.

I sighed and rubbed a forepaw against my forehead. "Anyone at all?"

Nothing.

"All right, that's it," I growled. "You guys have ten seconds before I go with Kima's suggestion."

For a few heart stopping seconds, the silence continued. Then a small voice spoke up, one I didn't recognize.

"The Pridelanders."

We all turned at once to where the new proposition had come from. The female cub I hadn't recognized had finally spoken up, and as the rest of us stared she looked down at the ground and fell silent again. Given the choice, I'm pretty sure she would have grabbed her words right back out of the air and hidden them away forever.

"I kinda like that one, Amani," Tama said warmly, surprising us all with his sudden praise.

_Amani…_, I thought. _So that's her name. Where have I seen her before?_

"It's short and simple, but still powerful," Tama continued, smiling at the now blushing Amani. "It's a good name."

"I guess we do live in the Pridelands," Nala added. "And it's not like Scar or any of the hyenas would call themselves that. They've never cared about the land we live in; otherwise, it wouldn't be in such bad shape."

"It's got a nice ring to it," Afya commented. "I like it."

"Me too," Tojo agreed a second before Tani said the same thing.

"I'm good with anything as long as it doesn't involve ninjas," Usiku said with a small smile.

One by one, all of the cubs voiced their support for Amani's suggestion, and her shy smile slowly grew bigger with every approving answer. To be honest, I also would've been happy with anything other than Kima's idea at that point, but I had to admit that I liked the name too. There was something vaguely mysterious about it, and an image of a terrified hyena whispering our name as he saw us on the horizon sprang into my mind. The Pridelanders would be a perfect name.

"So everyone agrees with the new name?" I asked. I was met with ten consenting nods, and a relieved grin split my face. "Then it's settled. In a few months time, every hyena this side of Africa will fear the name 'Pridelander'."

As I looked at the smiling faces before me, I began to feel a little bit more comfortable with the members of my pride. Or should I say, the Pridelanders? Whatever our name was, it seemed like we were finally coming together as a group, all thanks to Amani. As I glanced over at the now beaming cub, I racked my brains again, elation turning to confusion as I gazed at her strangely familiar face. I _knew_ I had seen her somewhere…but where?

It wasn't long before Amani noticed the puzzled look I was giving her, and she glanced at her paws again before forcing out another shy smile. Realizing what I looked like, I grinned back and nodded before turning away. I guess it didn't really matter where she came from. Like I had said earlier, all that was behind us now. We weren't part of that old world anymore. We had created our own.

We were Pridelanders.

**Tama**

It didn't take the rest of the "Pridelanders" long to discover the river bordering their new home. Almost before our pride was made official, the whole group was splashing around in the water. Okay, one wasn't exactly "splashing"…more like sunbathing on a rock and growling at anyone that got too close. Three guesses which one that was. The rest of us were having a blast, though, shoving each other around in the frothy waves and just being kids again. It was exactly what I needed to pick up my spirits, and exactly what everybody else needed too. Everyone seemed to love their new home.

Everyone except Simba.

For a while, I couldn't figure out why he hadn't come down into the water with us, instead preferring to watch us from the riverbank with a strange, almost mournful look on his face. At first, I figured he was just tired from all the stress that had been heaped onto his shoulders in the last couple of days, and I left him alone. Eventually, though, I realized that playing with the other cubs would've had the same liberating effect on him as it had on me, and it struck as even odder that he was choosing to stay dry. Whatever was eating at him was enough to keep him distracted from what used to be his favorite pastime, and I hated to see my friend looking so depressed. After mulling over the situation during a surprisingly violent game of tag with Tojo and Tani, I decided to go try and talk some sense into him.

I mumbled something to Tojo about needing to talk to Simba, but I'm not sure he heard me seeing as he was dive bombing onto an unsuspecting Tani at the time. In any case, he wouldn't notice if I snuck off for a minute, which was what I was planning on doing. It was time to return the favor Simba had given me earlier in the day.

Simba glanced over at me and nodded in greeting as I walked up to his spot on the ledge. He didn't say a word, though, which only made me more worried about my best friend. I had to know what was bothering him so badly.

"The water's great," I said cheerfully as I nudged his shoulder with my paw. "Why don't you come down with us instead of moping around up here?"

Simba smiled faintly but didn't move. "I'm fine up here. You can go back down if you want."

Okay, so that approach didn't work. "Come on, man, what's wrong?" I said, abandoning any hint of subtlety. "Since when have you ever skipped out on screwing around in the river?"

"Nothing's wrong, Tama," he replied, ignoring my second question entirely. "I'm just…thinking about something that happened this morning."

My eyebrows arched. I had heard part of the story of their escape from Nala after I got back from rescuing them at the lake, but nothing from Simba. "Speaking of which, you still haven't told me anything about what happened last night. All I got from Nala was something about hyenas and you jumping off a cliff before she ran off to Aiheu knows where."

I waited for a few seconds to give Simba a chance to respond, but my friend was still infuriatingly silent. "This would be the part of the conversation where you tell me what happened and why it's still on your mind twelve hours after the fact," I added dryly.

Simba shrugged and finally opened his mouth. "There's not much to tell. We got stuck up at the summit for the night and we had to fight off a couple of hyenas getting back down. We jumped down the back, landed in the lake, and then I guess you found us. What else is there to it?"

I was quickly losing my patience with his constant non-answers, especially with the enticing sounds of the other cubs romping around beneath me constantly wafting into my ears. I decided to give Simba one more chance to give me an honest answer before I gave up and just beat one out of him.

"Simba, will you just tell me what's wrong already?" I begged, my exasperation coming out clearly in my voice. "It's driving me crazy seeing you so upset!"

For a minute Simba remained tight-lipped, and I began to wonder if I really would be forced to beat a reply out of my best friend. Luckily for me (or maybe for him), he finally elected to give me a somewhat straight answer just as I was getting ready to pounce on him.

"When we were up on the summit this morning, one of the hyenas had Nala by the throat," he said in an eerily quiet voice. "He started talking…said I was…"

_And there he goes again. Would it kill him to just spit it out?_

Suddenly, Simba sat up straight. "He said he killed Sarafina. Nala's mom. She's motherless now because of me."

"And that's all that's bothering you?" I asked skeptically. Simba nodded and looked away, trying to avoid making eye contact. I let out a slow sigh and briefly considering the "beat it out of him" plan again. Anyone with half a brain could see that that wasn't all of what was on his mind, but eventually I opted to just work with what I had.

"I know what you're gonna say…" Simba continued gloomily.

"That starting a fight was a crazy idea?" I said, a bit harsher than I had intended. "Yeah, it was. It was crazy, stupid, and totally unexpected. But it worked, Simba. And that's what important."

"Yeah, I guess, but…" Simba trailed off (again…) as his gaze drifted over to where Nala was chasing after Jua. Suddenly, I began to have a grainy idea of what Simba was agonizing over.

"She doesn't know, does she?"

Simba nodded again. "I thought she heard him, but she hasn't mentioned it since we got back. I don't know whether she's just in denial or whether she really doesn't remember at all."

"And you're worried about whether you should tell her, right?"

"Yeah…my gut's telling me that she needs to know, but she's so happy right now…I don't want to put her through that."

I guess I understood where he was coming from, but the right choice was glaringly obvious to me. I just had to bring him around.

"Well, ignorance is bliss…" I replied with a shrug. "Of course, you know the longer you keep her in the dark, the more pissed off she'll be when she finally finds out. Specifically, the more pissed off she'll be at _you _when she finally finds out."

"So you think I should tell her?"

Now we were getting somewhere. "It's still your choice, but…yeah, I'd tell her if I were you."

Simba nodded briskly, his demeanor seeming much less melancholy than it had been before. I smiled and patted him on the shoulder, allowing his second unrevealed problem to slip my mind. I knew he still wasn't telling me everything, but what did it matter if he was happy now? As Simba grinned back, I jumped down off his lofty perch and swam back over to where Tojo was lazily floating on his back. My job there was done.

**Simba**

My smile dropped away as soon as Tama dove back into the river. It was a nice thought for him to try and cheer me up, but a fruitless one nonetheless. My current worries ran a bit deeper than he knew, unfortunately.

Tama had managed to hit on one of my troubles, namely the fact that I had more or less sentenced my best friend's mother to death with hardly a second thought. Forget what Tama said; as far as I was concerned, Sarafina would still be alive if I hadn't told my mother to start a fight. Mom was right. I hadn't known what I was getting into, and it had cost someone their life.

As if that wasn't enough of a weight on my shoulders, the biting words of the hyena atop Pride Rock remained at the front of my mind as well, circling around my brain like a school of piranha. _Hypocrite._ _Murdering scum. Monster._ The words seemed to swirl around before my eyes, identifying me, labeling me…eating away at me. And the worst part of it was, I had a sinking feeling that he might have been right. Was I a monster? I shivered as I remembered my claws tearing through the hyena's flesh. I had enjoyed it. I had relished in the utter dominance I had occupied over another creature. Was it adrenaline? Was it insanity?

Or was it just me all along?

I began to wonder why I hadn't told Tama about my fears. After all, he was like a brother to me. Of all the cubs there, he was the one most likely to be understanding of my plight. But as much as I wanted to confide in him, I couldn't. Not because I thought he would make fun of me, but because deep down I was terrified that he would agree with the hyena, that he would say I was a monster too. It was bad enough that I doubted myself; if Tama was afraid of me…I wasn't sure if I could handle it. And then what would happen? Would I lose control again? Would the monster come out again? I couldn't risk it. Couldn't risk turning into the monster I was so deathly afraid of. I sighed. Once again, I wished I could tell someone about how I was feeling. Maybe Nala would understand…

Nala. Sarafina. Damnit. I had forgotten all about my promise to Tama. I sighed again. _Might as well take care of it now_, I moaned inside my head.

"Hey, Nala?" I called out. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Nala splashed Jua one more time and giggled as the much smaller cub splashed her back before looking up at me. "Sure, what's up?" she asked as she shook the water off her head.

I opened my mouth to ask her to come and talk privately, but nothing came out. Nala was looking up expectantly at me, a weary smile etched so deep into her face it seemed like it would never fade away. She was as happy as I'd ever seen her. And I was going to take it all away in the blink of an eye. Instantly, my old misgivings returned in full force, and I knew there was no way I could bear to ruin her life so abruptly, not with how carefree she was then. My jaws clamped shut, and I forced a grin.

"Never mind. I'll...I'll tell you later," I said awkwardly. Nala gave me a curious look, then shrugged.

"All right, then," she said before sloshing off after Jua again. My shoulders sagged more with every waterlogged step she took. I had chickened out, and I hated myself for it. As always, Tama was right. Nala would be livid if I waited much longer to break the news about her mother. But how was I supposed to do that if I couldn't even make eye contact with her without getting green at the gills?

I groaned and flopped down on the riverbank, burying my face in my paws. I had been so excited about leading a pride before. Now, I wasn't so sure if I was up to the challenge. How could I help others if I couldn't even help myself?

* * *

Sorry about the huge gap between updates...once again, I'm away from home right now, this time at the beach with my family, so my writing time is somewhat hampered. Not that I'm complaining about that, mind you...

I'm glad I finally got to introduce all of the Pridelanders, as well as explain the name of the story. If you're curious about exactly what happened between Tama and Kivuli, that scene will appear in a future chapter, but not from Tama's POV. As a side note, if the massive number of characters that are now in the story is confusing to you, I've posted several short character profiles on my own profile page to help sort them out. I'd suggest reading them, since they not only are a great aid for not staring blankly at the screen thinking "Who the hell is _that_?", but also because there may or may not be a couple important details in the profiles that Simba didn't mention...details that will be extremely important in later chapters.

Keep watching for the next chapter (told at least partially from Scar's POV...o_0), and review! I haven't reached the "Lion Sheikh" level of frustration yet (a.k.a. holding the story hostage until I get five reviews), but it's definitely a possibil...ah, who am I kiddin'? I would crack long before any of you guys ever did...stupid writing addiction!

* * *

It's amazing what you discover when you read the fine print. Turns out that not only are songfics not allowed on the website, but apparently posting forewords as seperate chapters is also taboo. So basically, both of my stories are in violation of the rules. What can I say? I'm a rebel.

In the interest of not getting this story taken down, I'll be adding the foreword as a header in the prologue and deleting the separate chapter. As for the songfic, I'm leaving it up. Why? Because I think it's a stupid rule to ban songfics. Simply by writing fan fiction, we're using others' work for our own purposes, so how is using song lyrics to tell a story any different? No one that writes a songfic is stupid enough to claim ownership over said song, and it's free publicity for the artist. Hell, I might even buy a CD thanks to being introduced to a band through a songfic. What's the big deal?

So, to sum things up...yes, I am purposely ignoring the rules. I have a feeling this might come back to haunt me, but at the moment I'm willing to take the risk seeing as I'm certainly not the only one doing something like this. Also, it's fun to have a reason to say "fight the powa!". You should try it sometime.


	9. Chapter 8: The King

**Chapter 8: The King**

**Scar**

I don't think Sajini fully realized the gravity of the words that poured from his jaws that night. Coming from anyone else, his report would have been treason of the highest degree. But coming from the fearless and vengeful leader of the hyenas, by far the largest of his brethren and one of the few I had grown to trust, I was forced to assume that he might be speaking the truth.

For months, he had haunted my dreams and even my waking hours, his face floating behind my eyelids every time they snapped shut. And now he was back.

"And you're sure of this?" I asked Sajini one last time, some part of my mind still grasping at the thin hope that this was all a cruel joke, soon to be revealed by a yellowed grin and a braying cackle. A thin hope indeed, for I had never heard of Sajini telling a joke or even laughing, quite unlike a few of his less adept associates. That was one of the reasons I trusted him so much.

"I'd swear on my life, sire," he growled. "It was Simba that killed Kipele up on the summit this morning. Nala said so herself."

For a long time, I didn't reply. So it was true. Simba had survived the stampede and finally returned to torment me much more than a simple hallucination ever could. And surely the rest of the missing cubs were surely in cahoots with him as well. And somehow the thought of eleven lions, cubs as they were, bent on my destruction sent a chill down my spine like nothing had for years.

For the first time in my reign over the Pridelands, I was afraid.

_Afraid of what?_, I asked myself. _He may be the son of Mufasa, but he's still just a cub. What could he possibly do?_

_It isn't what he can do that matters_, a different voice replied from the dark recesses of my mind. _It's what he _will_ do._

I clenched my teeth and growled quietly. I didn't have time to deal with the voice right now. Right now, I had to make a decision about Simba. About what I was going to do about Simba. And for some reason my unstoppable brain, the one that had gotten me everything I have today, was utterly blank.

Suddenly, I remembered why I had believed my nephew to be gone for good in the first place. Now there was a loose end that could be easily tied.

"Sajini?" I called out, drawing the attention of the hyena still standing before me. "Could you find Njano and bring him to me? I have something I wish to...discuss with him." I took note of Sajini's curious expression. "In private."

Sajini raised his eyebrows but didn't argue. He knew the necessity of the situation as well as I did. "Right away, your majesty," he intoned, dipping his head quickly before slipping out of the den. A few minutes later, he returned with a thin dusty gray hyena in tow. Sajini slipped away as the newcomer sidled in and sat down before me, trying to hide his apprehension. He should have known better, especially in the presence of someone so gifted in concealing his own emotions.

"You wanted to see me, boss?" he mumbled in his infuriatingly nasally voice. I grit my teeth but resisted the urge to grimace outwardly at the infernal sound. I wouldn't have to listen to it for much longer, anyway.

"Yes, Njano," I replied calmly. "I was wondering if I could borrow a few moments of your time to discuss your last special assignment. You remember, the one involving the elimination of a certain rogue cub?"

Njano furrowed his brow for a moment before recalling the nine-month old mission. "Oh, yeah, I remember that one," he said excitedly. "The one Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed screwed up, right?"

"Precisely. As I recall, you reported the mission as a complete success, with the cub's death all but guaranteed."

"Yep," Njano said proudly. "There ain't no way he walked outta that desert, 'specially after goin' through that briar patch."

"Good, good…" I mused as a wry smile began to spread across my face. "I trusted your report implicitly at the time, I believe. I don't think it ever even crossed my mind that you might have been mistaken. Or lying." I chuckled softly at my nonexistent joke, and as my laughter increased in volume Njano joined in, nervously at first but eventually with gusto. For almost a full minute we sat there chortling like old friends, until I suddenly stopped laughing as quickly as I had started, my face clear of any expression.

"So imagine my surprise when I discovered that this cub was still alive," I said to a still sniggering Njano, my voice utterly free of any mirth. Njano's smile faded as my words sank in.

"Wha…well, who went and told ya somethin' stupid like that?" he said as he laughed again, this time with an anxious undertone.

"A very trustworthy source…more trustworthy than you, I might add."

Njano ran his tongue over his lips and cleared his throat. "Well, I don't know who your source is, but he's sure got his cubs crossed. That little brat bit the big one a long time ago."

I stood up slowly. "I don't tolerate failure, Njano. Not from any of my subjects, and certainly not from those I entrust with matters as important as this. Surely you must know this."

Njano stood up as well, backing away slowly as I advanced towards him. "Boss, I swear…he's dead! He's gotta be dead!"

"And surely you must know what happens to those who fail me," I concluded, cold fire burning in my eyes.

Njano's eyes went wide, and without wasting another second he turned on his heel and fled, sprinting for the grasslands. For a fleeting moment, he tasted fresh air before two burly hyenas detached from the shadows and knocked him to the ground. After Nala had escaped that morning, I had posted several guards in the shadows of the den to ensure that no one entered or left without my permission, and now my precautions were about to pay off. Njano was forced back before me, the jaws of his captors clamped firmly around his forelegs. His terrified eyes briefly locked with my own impassive ones before he looked away, afraid to even make eye contact.

"Scar, you gotta believe me, man!" he begged, his voice rising somehow higher as panic won out over reason. "No one coulda survived that desert! He's _dead_!"

"It's a shame how short our time was together," I remarked in the same deadpan voice, my nose barely an inch away from Njano's. "But all good things must come to an end someday."

I turned to the larger of the guards holding Njano. "Take him out into the grasslands and head for the canyon. You know what to do once you're there. Once you've finished with him, find his partners from this mission and take care of them as well. Sajini should know where to find them."

Njano struggled desperately against the grip of my guards, his skin tearing where his captors' teeth bit into it, but to no avail. I turned away and walked back into the confines of the den, half-listening as Njano's screams gradually faded away. Finally, silence filled my throne room once more.

As I lied down on the raised pedestal reserved for the ruler of the Pridelands, a dark tan lioness materialized from the shadows behind me. She was thin like me, with a brown stripe running down her forehead and stoic red eyes. I smiled faintly, something that I rarely did at the sight of any other lioness.

"Evening, Zira," I said warmly.

Zira bumped her head against mine and purred, her crimson eyes seeming to bore right through me. "You do realize what this means?" she said, ignoring my tender words.

My eyes narrowed, and my grin melted away as I stood up and walked away from my mate. "I always knew what this would mean," I replied softly.

For a long time, Zira was silent. She had always had an uncanny ability to predict my emotions, one of the many reasons I had chosen her as my queen. I knew she wouldn't speak until I was ready to answer. The problem was, neither of us could ever say when that would be.

"I chose to be called Scar, you know," I said suddenly. Instead of my normally confident and silky baritone, my voice came out as a deep yet cracked bass, as if it was an agonizing struggle for each word to pass over my lips. In truth, it was indeed a struggle. "I meant it to be a reminder, a promise to never let my anger and jealousy...fear, even, to control me. Sometimes I wonder how it all would've ended if I had kept that promise to myself, if I had let others help me. But the darkness...it never truly left me. I could hide it, ignore it, pretend it didn't exist, but always it came back. Mufasa, he knew my secret, but he refused to stay away like all the others. For all his life, he tried to help me be better, to face the darkness and destroy it."

I sighed and closed my eyes. "But I was too weak. I was always too weak. And now that Simba has returned, he will use that weakness against me, whether he knows it or not."

Zira moved closer to comfort me, but I wouldn't have it. She stopped again as I moved even closer to the yawning entrance to the inner sanctum of Pride Rock.

"After I killed my brother, I spent a hundred nights agonizing over my decision," I continued, a hint of pain sneaking into my husky inflection. "He gave me nothing but patience and courage when I had none, and in return I gave him an early death when he had everything."

Finally, I turned to face Zira again. "How did I ever think this would last, Zira? How did I not realize the gods would never allow me, a damnable usurper, to rule this kingdom undeterred? I've been tempting fate for so long, and now I'm going to pay for it. I'm going to pay dearly for it."

Once again, Zira didn't say a word. She just sat down by my side and nuzzled me again. This time, I didn't move away.

"You can't let your fears get the best of you, Scar," she crooned as she raised her ruby eyes up to gaze into my own emerald ones. "Who knows what the future will bring? After what happened last night, Simba might not even _want_ to return."

"No," I replied sharply. "He has too much of his father in him not to."

"Well, why don't you take care of that problem now?" she countered softly. "Send out the hyenas again and find him. He can't have gone far, not with ten other cubs following him."

"And why would it work any better the second time?"

"They were unorganized and undirected last night. Give them a target and a leader and they'll track down those traitors in no time."

I stared into my mate's unblinking eyes. "You really think it would be that simple?"

She shrugged. "It's worth a try, don't you think? We might be weak, but Simba is weaker. Strike now and you can rest assured that your rule will go unchallenged."

She had a point, a good one too, but for some reason I was reluctant to oblige. I knew she was right, yet slowly I began to realize that there was a part of me that still cared for Simba, the part of me that was just his uncle and not his tormentor.

The part of me that was still Taka.

_Oh, for the love of Aiheu, will you cut out that sentimental bullshit and do what you need to do?_

Suddenly, my compassion was gone. Taka was dead to me, had been for a long time. I had no feelings for that little brat. All Simba was to me was a distraction, one little snag in my master plan. I would take care of him the same way I took care of all the grown males that had remained from Mufasa's reign.

"Once again, you're right, beloved," I said, my old voice back in full. "Give the order to Sajini. Have the troops ready to move out by tomorrow night."

Zira grinned somewhat menacingly. "As you wish, Scar," she said, rubbing under my neck once more before striding out into the moonlight. I watched her go with increasing tension. Zira was right. Simba was weak. I was strong. And once he was gone…there would be no one left to stop me.

"Sleep well, Simba," I mused aloud. "Sleep well, and prepare yourself."

The moon shone bright above me, and the corners of my mouth turned up into what I knew must have been a malicious grin.

"Prepare yourself…for war."

* * *

**Simba**

_There he was, standing at the edge of Pride Rock, teeth bared in fury. I sprinted forward, eyes locked on my target. The hyena slashed. Too late. Much too late._

_My first swipe rent his face in two, splitting his greasy visage into two bloody halves divided by a trifecta of scarlet gullies. He groaned. I snarled. With a final burst of strength, I stabbed down with my claws, crushing right through his windpipe. This hyena would never breathe again._

_I looked up, my eyes poring furiously over the summit as I looked for Nala. Only I wasn't on the summit anymore. I was at the bottom of an immense canyon, surrounded by an ever-shifting mass of gray bodies. They were leonine in form; only instead of eyes they just had dark pinpoints of black._

_"Murderer…"_

_I stared. The lips of the entire crowd had moved as one, but only one voice had rung out. They were all of one mind._

_"I'm not a murderer!" I argued back. "He attacked me first!"_

_Suddenly, the crowd parted and a single bright figure walked through. My eyes narrowed. Scar._

_"Oh, Simba, what have you done?" he crooned, a malevolent leer widening on his gaunt countenance._

_"I…I didn't mean to! It was an accident!" I said, shaking a little as my uncle walked closer. "He was gonna kill me!"_

_Scar looked sad. "Simba…why would your father ever want to kill you?"_

_All of a sudden, the canyon floor felt cold as ice. "Wh-What are you…" I stammered, trailing off as Scar's gaze lowered to the bleeding corpse trapped beneath my paws._

_I looked down._

_My father's glassy amber eyes stared up at me, his yellow pelt stained red. Through his mangled fur, I could see three vertical gashes running down his face. I had killed him. I had killed my own father._

_"Murderer…"_

_I jumped back as the whispering crowd drew closer. "No! I didn't!" I shouted as the ghostly figures closed in around me. "It wasn't me!"_

_"Murderer…"_

_Now I could pick out individual faces among the nebulous throng: my mother, Nala, Tama, all of the Pridelanders. They all stared with unseeing eyes. They all pointed with unfeeling claws. They all whispered the same thing._

_"Murderer…"_

_I turned and ran, my heart pounding out of my chest. The crowd floated with me, their whispers turning into accusations and then shouts as the circle they had formed around me shrank even further._

_"Murderer…murderer…murderer!"_

_I fell to the ground, dust clogging my throat and spilling into my eyes. I tried to wipe it away, but my paw was too wet with the hyena's blood. With my father's blood._

_"Please…" I whispered, too horrified to even move. "Please don't hurt me. It was an accident…"_

_"MURDERER!"_

_I screamed, not with rage or even fear, but with a crushing sense of hopelessness. My father's blood burned like fire everywhere it touched me. The pain was unbearable, the knowledge even more so. I had killed him. It was my fault._

_It was all my fault._

_Suddenly, the invisible barrier between me and the spiteful ghosts was gone. They all fell upon me at once, claws and fangs ripping at my flesh without hesitation. I screamed again, feeling every bite and scratch as if they were white-hot embers pressed against my skin. The canyon disappeared behind a wall of cloudy gray, and the last thing I saw clearly was my uncle's simpering face, slowly fading away behind a crimson haze._

_"Murderer…"_

_I squeezed my eyes shut and shuddered as my chest was ripped open by countless ashy claws. I had thought the pain was bad before; now I could barely even think through it. Desperate to see the world one last time, I wearily cracked my eyelids apart, feeling my lifeblood drain away more and more with each excruciating second. Nala stared down at me, the twin holes in her skull boring right through me. Suddenly, the voids were filled by tearful green irises._

_"Nala…" I begged, the last of my strength ebbing away. "Please…"_

_Slowly, my best friend in the world shook her head. "You killed him, Simba," she said, her eyes narrowed. "And now you're going to pay."_

_With a snarl, she ejected her claws and stabbed down through my cracked ribs, straight into my heart. I screamed one last time as a deafening roar filled my eardrums. And then…_

_Silence._

* * *

I jerked awake with a gasp, my heart feeling like it was about to burst. My entire body was bathed in sweat, and I shivered as I felt along my chest and stomach with an unbloodied forepaw, searching for the awful lacerations I knew still remained there. But I felt nothing but clean, unbroken fur.

It was a dream. It was all a dream. Or was it?

I glanced around at the other occupants of the cave, my heart still pounding like I had just run a hundred miles. The rest of the Pridelanders were still asleep, completely oblivious to my nighttime terrors. Nala twitched in her sleep a few feet away, her green eyes hidden behind peaceful eyelids. I shuddered as I remembered those green eyes glaring at me. Ripping me apart. Killing me. I felt my stomach rise and my throat twinge. I was going to be sick.

I barely made it outside in time to avoid throwing up all over the new members of my pride. Even after my stomach was empty, I still retched painfully, unable to forget the hateful looks of the pallid figures in my dream. Finally, I was able to breathe normally again, but I didn't move from my spot in the deserted grasslands. I just sat there, my eyes shut tight but the tears leaking out anyway, wondering how much of my dream had been real after all. Was it true? Were the shadows right?

Was I a murderer?

A cool breeze wafted through the savanna, gently stirring the iridescent blades of grass. I barely even felt it.

* * *

**Nala**

I don't know what woke me up that first night out in the caves. Maybe it was how unfamiliar I was with my new home. Maybe I was still stressed out from my ordeal that morning. But most pressing of all, though, was an overbearing feeling that something was missing. Something important. But what?

I looked around the cave. Tama was nestled up against the wall near Amani. Tojo and Tani were apparently having a snoring contest judging by the powerful rumbles emanating from both of their chests. Usiku, one foreleg instinctively wrapped around his sister Jua, snoozed near the opposite wall. A small yellow lump curled up near the entrance had to be Afya, and Uruzi was stretched out luxuriously in the back of the cave. Lastly, I saw Kima on his back right next to me, eyes shut tight as he mumbled even in his sleep. Everyone seemed to be all right.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Everything was fine. I was just being paranoid. _Any more of this and you'll turn into Tama, _I thought with a yawn as I let my head fall back down between my paws, glancing briefly to my left before letting my eyelids droop shut. Suddenly, they snapped open again. Hadn't Simba been lying beside me earlier? I sat up and looked around the cave one more time. Nine other cubs still slept around me.

Nine cubs. Not ten. Where was Simba?

I stood up slowly and picked my way around the motionless bodies scattered across the cavern floor, trying not to wake anyone up. Once I was outside, I headed off to the ledge where I had seen Simba earlier. He had spent the whole day watching us play in the river from that spot, and I had a hunch that I would find him there now.

My hunch was a good one, and it wasn't long at all before I was staring at the sagging back of my best friend. Immediately, I knew something was wrong. He didn't turn around even when I walked up next to him, and as I got closer I realized that his eyes were ringed red.

"What are you doing out here, Simba?" I asked softly as I sat down by his side. "It's the middle of the night..."

"I didn't mean to kill him."

Any confusion I might have felt was overshadowed by dawning apprehension. Simba sounded like he was on the verge of tears, and about something as serious as murder! Unconsciously, I sat up a little straighter.

"Kill who? What are you talking about?"

"I just wanted to save you…he jumped at me and I lost control. It was an accident…"

Suddenly, I remembered the hyena attacking Simba on the summit that morning. A shudder flickered down my back as I remembered how brutally the strong yellow cub next to me had dealt with the threat, but at the same time I couldn't help but feel a little flattered that he would go to such lengths to protect me. I had no idea he had been so affected by his actions, though.

"Simba, I know you didn't mean to kill that hyena, but he would've killed both of us if you hadn't beaten him," I replied tentatively. "Besides, why is it such a big deal? You've killed plenty of animals hunting before…why is this one any different?"

"We hunt because we have to to survive," Simba said, his voice reflecting the pain on his face. "This time…he talked to me. He had a mate. It was like…killing another lion. It was wrong." He closed his eyes and fell to a whisper. "It was murder."

"No, Simba, it wasn't murder. Murder means you want to kill someone. Murder isn't an accident..."

"_But it wasn't an accident!_"

I flinched as Simba raised his voice without warning. He didn't look angry, though. He just looked scared.

Simba took a deep breath and blinked hard. "I beat him, Nala. I didn't have to kill him. I was just so angry…I hardly even remember that last swipe. Just how I felt afterwards."

I realized I wasn't breathing. I sucked in a gulp of air and decided to find out the truth about my best friend.

"How did you feel?" I asked in barely a whisper.

I jumped again as a strangled noise escaped Simba's throat. Before I knew it, he was sobbing into my shoulder, breaking my heart more with every shudder. I hated so much to see him cry, but I felt so powerless to help him…there was nothing I could do except hold him and pray that the rest of the Pridelanders would stay asleep. They couldn't see him like this. I could barely stand to see him like this.

I sat there for a long time with my foreleg around Simba's quivering back, watching the moon slide higher in the sky. Finally, Simba was quiet, and I gently nudged him with my muzzle, thinking he had fallen asleep. Needless to say, it was a bit of a shock when he spoke up suddenly, his voice steady but still melancholy.

"What's wrong with me, Nala?" he said, still not moving his head from its resting place on my shoulder. Secretly, I was glad he didn't.

"Nothing's wrong with you, Simba," I said, nuzzling the top of his head. "You're the nicest lion I've ever met."

Simba shook his head, finally moving away from me. "Guess you haven't met many lions, then," he said with a strange laugh. "I'm surprised you'd even want to be near me."

"Why wouldn't I want to be near you?" I retorted, a hint of frustration penetrating my voice. "Simba, please tell me what's wrong!"

Simba finally looked me in the eyes for the first time. "How much do you remember about this morning?"

I shrugged. "Not much…I remember that hyena grabbing me, and then I think I blacked out, and the next thing I knew we were in the water. You saved me."

"I didn't save everyone."

"Well, we're all here, aren't we? Who else was there to save?"

Suddenly, Simba's brashness was gone. To me, it seemed like he had just woken up and realized what he was talking about, which of course just made me want to know what was going on even more. I'm crazy like that.

"Your…" Simba stuttered. "Nala, your mom is…she's..."

"I know she's dead, Simba."

* * *

**Simba**

For a long moment, all I could do was stare. All day long, I'd been agonizing about when and how I would break the news to Nala about her mother...and now she tells me that she already knew?

"But…" I stammered again, still not able to form a complete sentence. "You didn't…you were so…"

"Happy?" Nala finished, her eyebrows raised.

I sighed, accepting defeat. "…Yeah."

Nala's eyes turned down. "I heard every word of what that hyena told you…I didn't want to believe it at first, but it really sunk in after we got back here. I cried for a long time while you were asleep, but after a while I realized that she would want me to be strong and keep going. So that's what I'm gonna do."

Okay, so she knew about it. That still didn't change the fact that I was responsible. "I shouldn't have started a fight," I said with a scowl. "There were a thousand other things I could have done, and no one would've been hurt..."

Nala rolled her eyes before locking them on my own. "Simba, my mom was about ready to try and overthrow Scar with or without you. She knew that she probably wouldn't make it, but she was willing to accept the consequences. She told me as much while we were out on the hunt. In a way, I almost expected her to die like that."

For the first time that whole day, a faint glimmer of hope poked through the black cloud surrounding my soul. "So…you're not mad at me?"

Now Nala looked genuinely confused. "Of course not," she replied incredulously. "Why would I be mad at you?"

My guilt melted away like ice on the surface of a thawing lake. Instead of worry or stress, I just felt stupid. "I don't know…" I said, my face growing warm for some reason. "I guess I thought you would blame me for what happened 'cause it was my idea and…"

I bit my tongue as Nala abruptly rubbed her head under my chin, my heart kicking into overdrive and my brain going completely numb just from the feel of her fur against mine. After an eternity passed in no time at all, she looked me in the eyes again.

"My mother made her own choices," she said tenderly. "She chose to fight because she wanted Scar to be overthrown more than anything. You didn't do anything wrong."

Finally, I let the smile I had been holding back come out. Nala didn't hate me. How did I ever think she would? I had been so wrapped up in my own guilt, I hadn't even bothered to think about whether I was guilty of anything. The death of the hyena had pressed down on me all day; now it felt like all that weight had been magically lifted off my back. Maybe I had killed that hyena, but it was out of self-defense. Out of love (I had finally realized that was what it was) for the emerald-eyed lioness next to me. I couldn't keep dwelling on it like this. I would have to take down a lot more hyenas before this was all over, anyway.

My eyes squeezed shut as a huge yawn split my face in half out of the blue. It occurred to me how high the moon was in the sky. How late was it anyway? I turned wearily to ask Nala, but my curiosity died away as I saw her lips curl into a smile to match my own. I guess it didn't really matter that much.

"Come on, sleepyhead," she whispered as she stood up and turned back towards the river caves. I don't know whether she meant to brush her tail across my nose as she walked past me, but I like to think she did. Regardless, I didn't need any more encouragement to follow her. I caught up quickly and fell in step beside her, and we roamed around in the grasslands for a long time, just the two of us wandering aimlessly in the vast open prairie of the Pridelands without a care in the world. We both knew exactly where the river caves were, but that didn't mean we couldn't take our sweet time getting back there. We didn't talk. We didn't need to.

At long last, the familiar outline of our craggy abode came into view. Thankfully, the rest of our pride was unaware of our absence, and we carefully stepped over their slumped forms as we made our way back to where we had been sleeping before. I lied down in my usual spot near the wall, exhausted but filled with a warm feeling that seemed to envelop every inch of my body. Soon, that imaginary warmth turned into the physical kind as Nala nestled up next to me, nuzzling me gently before resting her head on her paws. I closed my eyes, smiling at the tender kiss of her breath on the back of my neck.

_This was what was really bothering me_, I mused as my brain started to shut off. _This is what I was missing_...

Well, I'd found it. After nine months of isolation, I had finally found what I was looking for. Forget about Scar. Forget about the hyenas and the blood and the pressures of ruling a pride. At that moment, my life was perfect.

* * *

So Scar has a little voice inside his head too...interesting. And important. Actually, more like key to the entire plot. But I digress.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun (if you can call it that...) writing the creepy dream sequence. I never actually outlined the dream he had, so it was great to just see what my brain spit out when it needed to. I thought it turned out pretty good.

Stay tuned for Chapter 9, which will be posted right after I'm done with "The Unforgiven". I never realized how hard it is to write fancy prose like that until I actually tried...I don't think I'll ever do something like that again, at least not anytime soon. Still, I'm excited for the end, because I actually thought of a way to make it tie in to the real TLK universe! (That's a good thing, in case you're wondering...) Reviews would definitely be appreciated on both stories, and you can still answer the question I asked in Chapter 6 if you want. Peace out...for now.


	10. Chapter 9: The Hunt

**A/N:** As of right now (3:12 PM on July 30), this chapter hasn't been betaread yet...or at least, I haven't gotten the betaread version back yet. I actually finished this chapter and sent it away on Tuesday, but Prince of Pride has been uncharacteristically silent so far. I've read over this whole thing at least three times, so I'm pretty sure I caught all the grammatical errors and such...I still want his opinion on whether Simba is too OOC here, though. Bottom line, it's entirely possible that this chapter may change significantly between now and when the next chapter is published.

I decided to go ahead and post the unedited chapter for a few reasons. The main reason, of course, is that it's already been a week and a half since I last updated this story, and I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer. Also, I'm leaving (again...) next week to a place where I'm not entirely sure I'll have Internet access, and I definitely didn't want to make you guys wait two and a half weeks for a 4,500-word chapter. I've never been the subject of a flame war, and I don't feel like firing the first shot like that.

This chapter is a pretty big experiment for me, in that I'm moving away from the main plot a bit to focus on the character relationships a little. Besides that, I also wanted to see how good I am at writing funny stuff. My ultimate goal for this story is to make it a hybrid of action/adventure and situational humor, brought on mainly by the various characters and their responses to certain, shall we say...interesting scenarios. In other words, one of them's getting wasted at some point. I'm not saying who, how, or when...but it's gonna happen.

So anyway, that's what I'd like you to focus on in any reviews you might give me (will give...think positively, Dylan): is this chapter funny? Simple as that. And if you think Simba is too OOC, you can say that too, I guess.

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Edit: Okay, Prince of Pride has approved of the chapter, and I have apologized to him for my impatience. The point is, this is now the final version of Chapter 9, instead of just the rough draft.

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**Chapter 9: The Hunt**

**Simba**

"Simba! Hey, Simba! _Wake up!_"

I groaned and blearily rubbed my eyes open. It couldn't be dawn already. Ten minutes ago, I was out in the savanna with Nala.

"C'mon, man…I'm hungry!"

I stifled a yawn and looked up at the source of my untimely wake-up call. Tojo stared back at me, his tail swishing around expectantly. I licked my lips and instantly cringed.

_Note to self: get water after puking guts out._

"So go get some of the zebra, then," I mumbled, still nauseated by the bitter aftertaste of half-digested meat.

"Can't. It's all gone, remember?" Tojo's stomach growled audibly as he said that, and he dragged his forepaw along the ground impatiently. "What else you got?"

"Well, there's…" I trailed off as I thought of our food supply. Or rather, our lack of any kind of food supply at all.

_Just one more thing I didn't plan for_, I grumbled inside my head. Starting a pride had seemed like such a great idea two days ago. _Okay, it's nothing that can't be fixed, though…first, get rid of Tojo. Then figure out what we're supposed to eat._

"Can you give me a second, Tojo?" I mumbled, earning a disappointed look from the brown cub standing over me.

"But I'm starving!"

"I'm working on it. In the meantime, go play with…" I did a quick sweep of the camp and picked out a random cub. "Him. Go play with him."

Tojo turned around, his brow wrinkling as his gaze slid over to where I was pointing. "Uh…that's Uruzi. She's a girl. And besides, she doesn't even like me…"

"Well, now's the time to make new friends," I countered as I pushed him out into the light. "Now go!"

Tojo finally left, looking more than a little crestfallen at being forced to skip breakfast. I hated to shove him away like that, but what choice did I have? I couldn't let any of the other cubs know how incompetent I had been. Half of them already didn't trust me as far as they could throw me, and this new failure would take away even that. Maybe if I took care of it really quickly, no one would notice.

I stood up, shaking the sleep out of my legs and paws before stumbling over to where Tama was still fast asleep against the cave wall. I was sure he'd enjoy being forced awake this early about as much as I had, but I needed his help to figure out what to do. Besides, misery loves company.

As I expected, Tama didn't respond kindly to being woken up by a hearty shove in the back. After spitting out a long string of unmentionable words, he finally cracked his eyes open.

"What?" he growled, whatever patience he might have had disappearing before it even got a chance to see daylight.

"Good morning to you too. Did you by any chance bring back some food with you when you left Pride Rock?"

Tama stared. Now he was equal parts confused and pissed off. This wasn't going to end well. "Oh, sure I did," he said sarcastically. "I pulled a few strings and got the flying warthogs to snag us a bite or two."

"So that's a no, then?"

"Give the man a prize!" Tama grumbled loudly as he rolled over to face the wall again. "Now if you're done asking stupid questions at the crack of dawn, I'd love to go back to…" Tama suddenly fell silent, and I swear I could actually see him stiffen up. "We don't have any food, do we?" he asked in a controlled voice.

"Strictly speaking, no. I was kinda hoping you'd be a little bit of help in fixing that, though."

Now he was awake. "You mean you didn't plan ahead for this?"

"Well, I just…" I stammered. "It was really short notice and I…"

Tama gave me a skeptical look, and I sighed. "No, I didn't. And now I need to figure out how to fix that before anyone else finds out."

"Finds out what?" Nala muttered as she rolled over to look in my direction. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," I replied quickly, forcing a smile. "Just something I wanted to talk to Tama about. It's no big deal."

Nala's face took on a dubious look to match Tama's. "Simba, I'll find out eventually. Just tell me."

_Gods, I hate it when she's right._

"We don't have any food," I said in a small voice. For some reason, I couldn't bear to look her in the eyes when I admitted my failure. I guess I didn't want her to see me make such an amateur mistake. I guess I was afraid that she wouldn't believe in me anymore if she knew how badly I had screwed up.

Maybe someday I would know better.

Nala didn't even look worried when I finally looked up at her. She almost seemed surprised that I was so worked up about the whole thing. "So we'll just go on a hunt," she said nonchalantly. "I thought that was what we were doing today anyway."

"It's not that simple…" I stuttered. I briefly wondered if the ability to speak to Nala in a normal voice would come with knowing better about her doubting me. Probably not.

"Why not?" she asked, still confused about my apprehension.

"Because you two are the only ones here that have actually hunted before," Tama commented dryly. "And no offense, but you aren't exactly what I'd call a prodigy, Nala."

"It was my first time!" Nala replied hotly. "I'd like to see you do any better!"

"So long as I didn't trip over my own feet, I probably would!"

Before I knew it, Nala had thrown herself at Tama with an angry snarl. I could only watch as my two best friends rolled across the cavern floor, biting and slashing like they were fighting to the death. Then again, maybe they were.

Finally, I gathered up the courage to jump in and shove them apart. Tama fell back easily enough, but Nala looked like she was ready to go right through me to get at Tama again.

"That's enough, Nala!" I said with as much authority as I could muster.

"Get out of the way, Simba!" Nala growled, not even noticing the numerous scratches lining her face. "Or do you think I'm terrible too?"

"I think you're overreacting," I replied in what I hoped was an authoritative voice. "You can't just attack someone every time they say something you don't like."

"Why not?"

"Because this happens!" I answered with a nod back at Tama, who was nursing a nasty-looking scratch on his paw with a sour look on his face. "Because we're never gonna survive as a pride if we're trying to kill each other, especially when we've got a hundred hyenas trying to do that already!"

Nala didn't answer, but she also didn't try to attack Tama again. She glared at me for a moment before stalking away to the back of the cave, where I could see her rubbing at the cuts on her face.

"Nice going, Tama," I muttered bitterly.

"Look, I'm sorry already!" he countered in an indignant whisper. "She was the one that overreacted. You said so yourself."

"She wouldn't have had a reason to if you hadn't insulted her!"

"So what am I supposed to do about it? I don't think she wants my apology right now!"

"Well, she sure as heck didn't want mine. Just try, okay?"

Tama stared for a moment, then sighed and stood up, for some reason looking more than a little nervous about talking to Nala. I don't think it had ever crossed his mind that she would be so upset by his remark, but that still didn't excuse his actions. I was sure I was doing the right thing by making him apologize…just as long as Nala didn't try to kill him again.

"Nala?" Tama said uncertainly as he reached the spot where Nala was facing the cave wall. "I…I'm sorry about what I said. I know I wouldn't like somebody telling me I wasn't any good at something, and I guess I just got all caught up in not having any food, so…I'm sorry."

Nala didn't make a peep during Tama's speech, and he glanced back at me with a "What now?" look in his eyes. I shrugged, just as puzzled by her behavior as he was.

"Ask her to forgive you," I mouthed.

Tama nodded quickly and turned back around. "So can you…can you forgive me? You know, just so we don't get stuck on this?"

Nala still didn't answer. "Please, Nala?" Tama added. "We've been friends for a long time, right? I'm sorry. I really am."

Finally, Nala turned around and looked at Tama. "I forgive you, Tama," she croaked. "Can you ask Simba to come over here for a minute, please?" Her voice sounded awfully scratchy, and I saw that her eyes were a little red around the edges. Tama's words had gone deeper than either of us had realized.

"Oh…yeah, sure," Tama said guiltily before walking over to me. "She wants to see you," he sighed morosely before flopping down beside me.

"You did fine," I muttered as he rubbed a forepaw across his temple. "I'll take care of this now."

Tama smiled faintly and nodded, and I traded my spot next to his side for one by Nala's.

"Hey," I said warmly as I sat down next to her. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Do you think I'm a bad hunter?" she said suddenly, her voice cracking a little again. Maybe she hadn't forgiven Tama as much as I would've liked.

"I think you're gonna be a great hunter someday," I said, nuzzling the side of her head gently. "You just need practice."

Nala sighed and slipped her head under my chin. "I don't know why I got so mad at him. I just screwed up so bad last time, and I was trying so hard…"

"Don't worry about it. It took me a month to catch my first field mouse, and that was only 'cause I had somebody helping me." I grinned as Nala pulled back and gave me a confused look. "It wasn't Tama. Honestly, he's even worse than me."

Nala chuckled quietly. "Knew he wasn't any good," she mumbled as she rubbed against my neck again. For a long minute, we just sat there in the back of the cave, my whole body glowing with light. Or at least, that's what it felt like. I couldn't help but laugh as I remembered myself nine months earlier, when I couldn't understand how anyone could like this feeling. Now, I think I had an inkling of an idea.

Eventually, I remembered Tama again. "So you and Tama are okay now, right?" I asked, breaking the silence. Nala glanced up at me and nodded, looking a hundred times better than she had a few minutes earlier. Glad that my two best friends weren't at each other's throats anymore, I stood up and ambled back to where Tama was still sprawled out on the ground.

"You can stop moping around," I said in what I'm sure was an irritatingly happy voice. He'd get over it. "She doesn't hate you."

Tama flicked his eyes open and looked up, letting out a big sigh of relief when he saw Nala's peaceful expression. "Good thing, too," he said as he grimaced and stretched. "She just about wiped the floor with me a minute ago. Any longer and I'd have to have Amani chew my food for me."

Nala and I both raised our eyebrows. "How long have you two been friends?" I asked.

Tama gave us an innocent look. "Couple days. Why?"

I briefly glanced over at Nala, who simply shrugged. "It's none of our business," she said under her breath. I guess I knew that, but I couldn't help but be a little curious. How much had I missed in the nine months I had been gone?

"Never mind," I said finally, forcing away any thoughts of my friend's personal life. Nala was right; it wasn't any of my business. "You ready to go on your first hunt?"

"Well, I already know what it's like to be the prey," he replied with a wry grin. "Guess it couldn't hurt to try it from the other point of view."

Nala giggled. "Don't make me come after you again," she said playfully, flashing her pearly white teeth for emphasis. Tama jumped back in mock fear, and Nala laughed again. That time, I joined in too.

"Well, let's get going, then," I sighed after we had all calmed down a bit. "If we get an early start, we can probably be back here by midday."

Tama raised his eyebrows. "I don't know about that…you sure the rest of the pride is that good at hunting?"

"Oh, quit being such a worrywart," I answered with a confident grin. "We're lions. Lions are natural hunters. What's the worst thing that could happen?"

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**TEN HOURS LATER**

I don't know how my mom did it.

See, I had always thought hunting in a pack was the easiest thing in the world…otherwise, how did we never go hungry while my mom was in charge of the hunting party? After all, what could go wrong? Even if you screwed up, you had at least half a dozen of your closest friends to back you up. Nothing to it, right?

Wrong. _Way _wrong.

The first problem of many was the forming of the actual pack. For some reason, I had actually expected everyone to _like_ the idea of going on a hunt. We were all starving and a hunt was pretty obviously the only way to fix that, so I was optimistic that everyone would be quick to jump on the bandwagon. And then I told the others about it. You want to hear the first thing Tojo (the same cub who had apparently been moaning for almost an hour about how hungry he was) said to me when I announced that we were all going on a hunt together?

"Wait…aren't the _girls_ supposed to hunt?" You can imagine how well that went down with the more effeminate members of the pride.

It took at least fifteen minutes to drag Tojo out from under the giant pile of bodies that had materialized on top of him, and then another twenty to convince the rest of the group to not let us starve to death. You wouldn't expect that to be very difficult either, but once again I had underestimated my fellow pride members. None of the other guys were very enthusiastic about such a feminine undertaking (though they were smart enough to keep their mouths shut about it), and I'm pretty sure Tojo wasn't looking forward to heading out with the still fuming "girls"…assuming, of course, that he ever came down from the tree he had shot up after I had saved him from the wrath of his female brethren. Eventually, I brought everyone around to the idea by cleverly not giving them any other options. Finally, we were off.

Unfortunately, getting the whole group out into the grasslands ended up being the least of our problems. First off, there was the aforementioned fact that no one had ever really hunted before, the only exceptions being me, Nala, and Uruzi. On the other hand, I'm not sure if I can really count Uruzi as an exception, seeing as she threw away no less than three golden opportunities for a kill when she (in chronological order): stepped in a puddle and yelled like it was lava, saw a spider on a blade of grass, and (as she put it) "broke a nail". When I asked her later how exactly she had managed to snap a claw walking in soft soil, she replied, with all the tact characteristic of Uruzi: "Shut your face." Somehow, I doubt my mother had to deal with things like this.

Uruzi wasn't the only one to show off their amateur status. Tani tripped over every single rock in the entire Pridelands at one point or another, and by the time Afya would stop analyzing counter-angles and actually pounce, the peacefully grazing wildebeest would be long gone. In addition, we determined through a series of controlled experiments that it was physically impossible for Kima to keep his mouth shut for any longer than a minute at a time, which tends to make it a bit difficult to sneak up on anything.

The granddaddy debacle of them all, though, belonged to Jua. We had found a lone zebra drinking from a small waterhole and done everything perfectly: made our approach without a sound, gotten in position totally unseen, gagged Kima with a few acacia leaves. All Jua had to do was make a lunge so easy a newborn could've managed it, and we'd have a feast fit for a king. So we all got comfortable and waited excitedly for her to attack.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited. After nearly fifteen minutes, the zebra trotted away, with Jua still invisible. I ignored the hunger pangs long enough to stomp over to the thick clump of grass behind where the zebra had quenched his thirst for what should've been the last time, where I found our mighty huntress in the same spot we had left her. Fast asleep. For the first time in my life, I fully understood the concept of "justifiable homicide".

By the time we stumbled across a massive copse of acacia trees, the sun was hanging low in the sky. We had been out there for almost the entire day, without so much as a nibble. I had long since given up hope of ever actually eating again, so I figured that if we were going to starve to death, we might as well do it in the shade. So into the forest we went.

Somehow, Kima's mouth was still motoring away like he didn't have a care in the world. Luckily for me, I didn't have to deal with him anymore. Earlier in the day, Kima had apparently decided that Usiku was his eternal hero, and had followed him closer than his own shadow ever since. I wasn't sure how well the older lion was holding up, but at the moment I couldn't have cared less as long as Usiku didn't actually kill the little guy.

"I can't believe I'm actually on my first hunt!" Kima shouted for the four-hundredth time as the sun finally began to fade behind the treetops.

"And that is officially the four-hundredth time you've said that," Usiku grumbled as Kima bounced around him. Guess I wasn't the only one keeping track.

"Why is your fur so dark?" Kima asked, oblivious to Usiku's comment. "Are we ever gonna catch anything? What's that tree called over there? I'm bored!"

"Y'know, if we ever get really desperate, we could always just eat Kima," Usiku suggested, this time directing his comment at me. I gritted my teeth and screwed up my eyes, a dull roar filling my ears. Kima was bad, but Usiku was, in a way, almost worse. Most of the time he was quiet, but whatever did come out of his mouth was either one of an endless number of sarcastic comments or a question of exactly how long it had taken me to decide to "save" them from Scar. He had been trying to push me over the edge all day, and he had finally succeeded. I couldn't take this anymore!

"I have an idea," I half-shouted through clenched teeth. "Let's play a game. It's called 'Shut the Hell Up For Three Seconds So We Can Get Within Ten Feet of Something Before It Runs Away'!"

For the first time in the entire miserable day, Kima fell blissfully silent. I took a deep breath and tried to calm down a bit, already feeling a little guilty about snapping at Kima and Usiku. Then again, who could blame me? I was so hungry I was weak in the knees, exhausted from running across half the Pridelands all day, and now I had a headache from the constant chatter spilling out of the mouth of both the black lion behind me and his unwanted sidekick. To be honest, I was surprised I'd lasted that long.

We walked deeper into the forest, no one making a sound for fear of incurring my wrath. I was starting to get a little worried about still not hearing Kima, though, and I was about to turn around and check on him when Tama ducked down suddenly and motioned for everyone else to do the same. I crouched down as soon as I saw Tama do the same and followed his pointing claw with my eyes, hardly even daring to believe what I saw at the end of it. Standing not even twenty feet away was a stocky female gazelle casually nibbling on some low-hanging leaves. Looking closer, I saw that both of its ears were mangled almost beyond recognition, as if something had clawed them up a long time ago and they had never healed properly. With a jolt of excitement, I realized what that meant. Fueled by adrenaline, I tested my theory by rustling a couple of nearby plants. The gazelle didn't even blink.

It couldn't hear me. The gazelle was deaf. There was no way we could screw this up.

I turned to the rest of the Pridelanders, all of whom had come to the same conclusion as I had. Needless to say, they were just as animated about the possibility of a decent meal as I was.

"Okay, guys, looks like we finally got lucky," I said with a grin. "That being said, we still have to actually kill it before we can eat. Nala and Afya, you two come out from the left, and Usiku, Tani, and I will attack from the right. Everyone else, stay here and be ready to back us up." I grinned again and unsheathed my claws. "All right, everybody, let's move-"

"Wait a minute…" Tojo said suddenly as he gazed around the clearing. "Where's Kima?"

I whipped my head around along with the rest of the Pridelanders, hoping beyond hope that the tiny brown cub was just hiding behind a tree somewhere, but no such luck. Kima was gone.

"We're totally sure the gazelle's deaf, right, Tama?" I asked suddenly.

"Yes, we're sure," Tama replied slowly, unsure of where I was heading with this conversation.

"So it can't hear us at all, right?"

"That is the definition of 'deaf', yes…"

"Good." With that, I walked away from the group a bit, stuck my head into a small patch of leaves, and screamed as loud as I could. Once I was finished, I stood up with a clear expression on my face, calmly ignoring the stares of the other cubs.

"Okay, let's go find Kima," I said as I walked off into the brush again.

"Are you crazy?" Usiku shouted after me, clearly annoyed with the whole situation. "Have you ever even _heard _of a deaf gazelle before? We can't give this one up!"

"Don't even start with me, Usiku!" I countered angrily, turning to stare down the dark-furred cub. "Besides, it's your fault he's gone! If you hadn't been such a jerk to him all day, he wouldn't have run off!"

"Yeah, that means a lot coming from the guy who told him to shut the hell up!"

I shook my head and turned away again, gazing off into the shadowy depths of the forest. "You know what? I don't even care. The important thing is that we find Kima. He's never been on a hunt before-"

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed."

If looks could kill, Usiku would've been stone dead by now. "He's never been on a hunt before, and he's barely a year old," I continued, doing my best to keep my frustration out of my voice. "Right now, he's probably wandering around out there, lost and alone and scared and…"

Suddenly, I was cut off by a low growl coming from somewhere behind me. I whipped my head around just in time to see a small brown blur fly down from the tree canopy and smack right into the gazelle's neck, bringing it down with hardly a sound. The animal never even knew what hit it. The whole pride stood motionless and watched as Kima popped up from underneath the limp gazelle, his cubbish muzzle stained bright red.

"Did I do good, Simba?" he asked excitedly, his tail whipping around like a ropy brown snake.

Quite frankly, I was at a loss for words. This maddening little kid, the one we had been keeping as far away as possible from every animal we had come across, had turned out to be the best hunter of the bunch. Somewhere, I'm sure somebody was laughing their tail off.

"Uh…" I stammered. "Yeah, that was…um…that was…"

"Freakin' _awesome!_" Tojo finished with an exhilarated shout.

"Yeah, what he said," I finished weakly as the rest of the pride crowded around a still beaming Kima, showering him with praise and an endless number of friendly nuzzles. Afya even went so far as to plant a giant kiss on his cheek, much to the embarrassment of both cubs. Even Usiku couldn't help but crack a smile at the sight of the little cub's red-tinged grin.

"Nice goin', short stuff," Usiku said as he gazed onto the still warm gazelle.

"Thanks…" Kima replied, obviously trying to think of a good nickname for his best friend. "U-man?"

Usiku's grin faded. "Don't push it."

"Mm-kay," Kima mumbled quietly, his face falling a little bit. He perked up again almost immediately as Usiku chuckled and gave him a friendly cuff in the shoulder before diving into the feast in front of him. Finally, I was able to approach our newly christened hunter.

"I gotta say, that's definitely more impressive than my first kill," I said, still a bit in awe of the masterful takedown that Kima had accomplished without any practice whatsoever. "You're a natural."

Kima's grin grew wider. "So I can come with you guys on the rest of the hunts, right?"

My face split into a smile to match Kima's as my eyes pored over the most beautiful gazelle I had ever seen. "I don't know," I replied with a laugh. "At this rate, I might have to let you lead the hunts before long."

Kima giggled briefly, then finally gave in to his growling stomach and tore a big hunk out of the gazelle's thigh. As I chewed on a mouthwatering steak of my own, I couldn't help but be filled with an intoxicating feeling of confidence. Maybe we wouldn't be such a bad pride after all.

Maybe someday we would be able to face Scar and his hyena minions. And win.

If only I had known how soon we would get that chance.

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Well, they won't starve to death, at least...but that's quite an ominous cliffhanger, I dare say.

I'll assume you remember what I said at the top, so I won't repeat it here. R&R, and I'll see ya back here for Chapter 10!


	11. Chapter 10: The Rally

**A/N: **Well, I'm finally back. I know this is an incredibly short chapter considering it's been over two weeks since the last update, but the alternative was having one ridiculously long (like over 10,000 words) chapter in a couple days. I figured you'd rather have the short one now. I promise the next chapter (which is definitely a good one) will be finished and posted by Tuesday at the latest.

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**Chapter 10: The River**

**Sajini**

I had thought this moment would never come.

It was bad enough that I had let that scrawny little runt of a cub beat me at my own game, bad enough that I had let both him and his insolent brat of a girlfriend escape with hardly a scratch. But then Scar told me to wait one more night before attacking. He told me to allow the force to rest a bit before heading out on the hunt again. He told me to be patient.

I don't do "patient".

Still, it wasn't like I had much of a choice. Like it or not, Simba had already beaten me once, and without backup it would surely happen again and again until he finally decided to kill me. Then again, he might not even want to raise a claw against anyone after our lion-to-hyena up on the summit. My lips pulled back into a smile at the memory of his eyes widening in horror as he gaped back at the bloody corpse of Kipele. I had played him like a drum, and in just two minutes I managed to beat him down without even touching him. All it took were a few creative names and a good grip on his girlfriend's neck. Funny how often that works.

Needless to say, I wasn't worried about our chances of capturing both Simba and all of his traitorous pals that had decided to run off the same night. At full ranks, we outnumbered the cubs at least twenty-five to one, and every hyena under my command was a ruthless killer who would show no mercy to any creature on earth, child or not. Not only that, I had done a bit of weaseling and convinced a few of Scar's new "recruits" to come out with us. After the younger cubs had left, a few of the older ones had approached Scar and asked to join his army, apparently with the hope that declaring their allegiance to the king would save them from his eventual wrath. A nice thought, but it was obvious to anyone with half an ounce of gray matter rattling around in their skull that most of them were just sucking up to Scar in a desperate attempt to save their skins. Only a couple of them had any real loyalty to the King that I could see, but he still allowed all of them a place in his hierarchy. Against my own advice, I might add.

That was one of the annoying things about Scar: give him a compliment and he'd melt right into your paws. And then, of course, there was the fact that our so-called king was about as capable a ruler as the rock he slept on. His response to any concern raised by myself or one of my soldiers (if he bothered to respond at all) was always some variant of "go talk to the lionesses." It was blatantly clear that he loathed even sharing a continent with hyenas, but it didn't really bother me. I didn't like him much either.

Despite all that, Scar and I still had a strange kind of respect for each other. He needed me to keep the hyenas under control, and I needed him to keep the lionesses hunting so we didn't starve. It was an uneasy relationship but a necessary one, and one that eventually earned me what can only be described as Scar's trust, or at least the closest thing to trust that anyone would ever get from the surly potentate.

But what am I doing rambling on about the state of the monarchy? At the moment, politics should've been the last thing on my mind. Now wasn't the time to analyze my oh-so-wonderful relationship with Scar the Magnificent.

Now was the time for battle.

As I stepped out of the shadowy den onto the promontory of Pride Rock, I thought back to when I had first been granted the position of Sheikh Mosi, less than a month before Scar took control of the Pridelands. With all the pomp and circumstance, I just knew that my first act as war chief would be to lead my people into the greatest war in our history, where we would emerge victorious over our heavily outmatched enemy. My name would be one of legend, the first word of the lips of every future warrior and the last on the breath of every fallen one.

Flash forward to today, where I was waiting in the wings to send out my troops for the first time, just like I had dreamed so long ago. They were ready, they were willing, and they were undoubtedly able. It would've been perfect, had our target been a lion pride or a rival hyena pack or even a couple of bull elephants. Hell, I would've settled for a pissed off rhino. But no such luck. My first opportunity to command the largest force of hyenas this side of Africa would be focused on the destruction of less than a dozen runaway lion cubs. I swear, if one more hyena even thought the words "you have to start somewhere", I was gonna rip someone's throat out.

After receiving a curt nod from Scar, I continued up the sloping promontory, keeping my stride straight and powerful until I reached the very end of the rocky point. The grasslands fanning out beneath the sharp lookout point were covered with a teeming mass of jabbering black canines, making the Pridelands look like an angry black ocean. Giant bonfires peppered the crowd at random intervals, and I grinned at the sight of the raging infernos. Those lions thought they were so clever with their silky tan coats and fluffy manes, but who had figured out how to set fallen branches alight by sticking them into the geysers that penetrated the mountainous terrain we called home? Who had discovered how easy it was to stay warm during the winter months when you had a roaring fire to huddle around? Furthermore, who had been the first rightful rulers of the Pridelands before Mohatu decided to waltz in and ruin everything? There was no denying it; save for their size and inordinate amount of luck, the lions were clearly the inferior race. Someday, I'd prove that once and for all…but not now. Not until I was sure we couldn't lose. Come to think of it, killing off most of the next generation would help that cause quite a bit. Maybe this wasn't such a useless endeavor after all.

Most of the throng laid out beneath the promontory didn't even notice my presence atop the craggy peak, which was exactly the way I wanted it. Filled with newfound confidence thanks to my epiphany about my first military undertaking, I knew I wouldn't be satisfied with just an ordinary speech. I wanted to make an entrance.

I was their leader; it was time to show it.

"Brothers and sisters!" I called out into the frenzied night air. In an instant, every eye in the clearing craned their necks upward and focused on a single black dot: me. I tried to hide an excited shiver. There's nothing on this earth quite like having the complete attention of a seemingly endless crush of vicious warriors. I'd been waiting for this moment my whole life.

"We are gathered here tonight to defend our all-powerful leader and his kingdom from the vile threat that besieges it!" I continued, trying to pack as much feeling as possible into every syllable. Sure, "our all-powerful leader" was pushing it a bit, but it wasn't like anyone else knew that. Besides, I had to keep up appearances for the dark-furred feline that I knew was watching somewhere.

"Not two nights ago, the nephew of our most gracious king, Scar, stole into our home with no provocation, released one of our most contemptuous prisoners, and _murdered_ in cold blood one of our own kin! Brother Kipele sleeps forevermore because of this repulsive usurper of Scar himself!" I paused for a moment as the thunderous jeers and cries for revenge of my comrades grew to a deafening volume.

_I'm glad they're enjoying this_, I grumbled inside my head as I swept my gaze across the shadowy mob. _Any more tripe about our "gracious king", and I'm gonna blow chunks all over this rock._

Gradually, the noise dulled enough so I could hear my own thoughts again, and I let a grim smile push its way through my lips. Now came the fun part.

"Now tell me, my brothers," I shouted. "Will we allow such treachery in our homeland?"

"_No!_" the horde replied with one voice.

"Will we hunt down the criminals responsible for these atrocities?"

"_Yes!_"

I let my villainous leer grow bigger. "And, when we succeed in bringing these terrorists to their knees, will we garner the strength to exercise the eternal power of our race, to bring death upon those who dare to bring death upon us?"

"_YEAH!"_

The crowd, already adrenalized even before I began speaking, dissolved into a frenzied mass of snapping teeth and feverish howls. My job was almost done. All that was left was to officially send them out.

I screamed the last sentence of my address at a volume louder than even I knew I was capable of reaching. "Now go, my family, and do not rest until each and every one of the defecting traitors lies dead beneath our claws!"

Without even a millisecond of hesitation, the hyena army (my hyena army!) dispersed into the grasslands, countless groups of soldiers splitting off in every direction. Even without my help, the troops had organized themselves into two or three-man teams, each evenly balanced with a mix of speed, strength, and stealth. Just one more reason why hyenas were better than lions: it would take a lion pride hours to assemble such efficient squads, and we had done the same thing a hundred times over in less than a minute, all while sprinting away at breakneck speed.

Hugely contented with the results of my speech, I strutted back down into the darkness of the den with a spring in my step. As the echoing battle cries of my soldiers began to fade into the distance, a lean brown lion melted out of the shadows of the den with his equally skinny mate trailing close behind.

"Not too bad for my first time, huh, Scar?" I said, unable to stop a cocky grin from spreading across my face. "I give those cubs twenty minutes before we got all of 'em strung up by their tails."

"I doubt it," the brown lion replied, his passive gaze focused on the grasslands behind me.

I growled deep in my throat and locked my eyes onto Scar so they wouldn't roll upward. Would it kill this guy to be optimistic just once?

"But our entire force searches for them as we speak!" I muttered slowly, managing to keep a somewhat level voice. "Mufasa himself couldn't outrun them!"

"Oh, he won't need to outrun them," Scar said with a bemused voice. "If he can return from the dead to mock me and torture my dreams, he can surely avoid a few hyenas."

I turned around quickly so Scar didn't catch a glimpse of the disgusted sneer stretching across my face. For the briefest of seconds, I understood exactly how Simba felt.

------------------------------

**Simba**

"Tama?" I said quietly to the brown cub staring off into the distance from just outside the river cave clearing. "Everyone else is going to bed…what are you doing out here?"

"I don't know…I think something's happening at Pride Rock," he replied in a puzzled voice. "Something big."

I sat down next to my best friend and squinted off into the horizon. "What makes you say that?"

Tama raised a claw and pointed out in front of him. "Look at that weird glow over there. I think it's coming from Pride Rock, but I can't figure out what it is."

"You don't think it's just the sun?"

"The sun should've set hours ago. This is something else."

I sighed and glanced past Tama's gesturing forepaw. Now that he mentioned it, I could just barely make out a dull glimmer peeking over the far edge of the grasslands. Not only that, I thought I could hear a low buzz coming from the direction of the glow, like a giant swarm of bees humming as they wheeled around their hive.

Suddenly, the buzz got louder and louder, until it had morphed into a dull roar. I saw Tama's eyes widen, and I knew he had heard the shift too.

"What was that?" he whispered. I shook my head and stared at the glow again, desperate to make out something in the dim twilight. But it was too far away. I couldn't see a…

Did the horizon just move?

I took an involuntarily step back as the skyline twitched again. Something was moving towards us, something that looked like an immense black wave in the world's largest ocean. The buzz was even louder now, so much that I realized it wasn't a buzz at all. Bees didn't bark. Or snarl. Or laugh.

Tama and I turned to look at each other, both of our eyes the size of the full moon overhead. There was no need to say a word, but we spoke anyway.

"Hyenas," we both whispered at the same time. We couldn't stay here any longer. We had to warn the others and get out of here _now_.

Tama and I practically flew back to the caves, and by the time we finally broke through the barrier of grass surrounding the clearing my heart was pounding loud enough in my ears to drown out the hushed sounds of the approaching mob. The other cubs had no problems hearing the far-off barks, though, and my heart sank as I saw the various stages of panic spilling out onto the faces of the Pridelanders. Some of them, like Usiku and Tani, looked ready to fight, but the others looked like they were a couple minutes away from breaking down entirely. Even Tama looked a little sick to his stomach, but his eyes might as well have been set in stone. At least he wasn't going to flip out on me.

Nala was by my side before I even got a chance to catch my breath. "Simba, where were you guys?" she said with a worried look. "What's happ-"

"Hyenas," I panted, cutting off the end of her sentence. "They're coming. A lot of them." I turned to face the other cubs. "Too many to fight off."

Needless to say, that news went over like a ton of boulders. The bays of the advancing hyenas were quickly drowned out as everyone started talking at once. I closed my eyes and swallowed hard, still trying to get my wind back after my sprint through the Pridelands. Whatever happened, I couldn't keep scaring them like this. There had to be a way to get them moving while keeping them calm, just like there had to be a place we could go after we started moving. I just needed to find both happy mediums. Thankfully, Tama was a little bit of help with the former issue.

"Hey, everyone just calm down, all right?" he said in a commanding voice, quieting the rest of the cubs a little. "We're gonna be fine. They still don't even know we're here."

"But they will pretty quick if we don't do something about it," Usiku added, for once adopting a completely serious tone. "Which begs the question: what are we going to do about it?"

"Should we fight?" Tani asked, noisily tapping his claws against the ground as he spoke.

"No," I answered quickly. "The hyenas probably outnumber us at least ten to one. We wouldn't stand a chance."

"What if we just went after one group at a time?" Tama proposed. "Hyenas hunt in packs just like lions. Maybe if we ambushed them one at a time, we could be in and out before they even know we're there."

I was about to answer when I heard a shaky cough come from behind me. All of the Pridelanders' heads swiveled along with mine to the source of the noise, which turned out to be a quietly crying Jua. Absolute terror was written all over the pale cub's face, and Usiku wasted no time in padding up to his younger sister's side and wrapping a foreleg around her.

"Ssh, ssh, it's okay, Star…they're not gonna get you," he murmured in a comforting voice I hadn't even known he possessed. "I won't let 'em."

As Jua buried her head in Usiku's shoulder, I turned back to face Tama. "We can't do that. We're not in any shape to fight right now," I said, stating the obvious as Tama nodded with a grim look.

"Maybe we can outrun them…" Nala said nervously.

"For a little while, maybe, but sooner or later they'd catch us," Tama replied with the same glum expression still on his face. "Most likely sooner, given the state we're in."

"Then what are we supposed to do?!" Nala shouted back, all of her self-control melting away as the full hopelessness of the situation began to sink in.

"We'll hide in the caves," I said in a confident tone that I'm sure was as transparent as the shaky grin I gave Nala. "There must be dozens of secret passages in there."

"That's not gonna work," Afya said, speaking up for the first time. "You're the only one that knows how to get around in there, and it's pitch-black. If we get separated, we'll never find our way out again."

I grit my teeth and bit my tongue to keep from screaming. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. Walking into those caves right now would probably be as much of a death sentence as trying to fight off the whole hyena army. We couldn't risk that, which meant that we were utterly trapped. Aside from the caves, there was nothing but open grassland for miles around. The hyenas wouldn't even have to break a sweat to sniff us out, but I wasn't planning on telling the others that. The last thing they had was hope, and I couldn't bear to take that away.

"All right," I finally said. "We're just gonna have to take our chances in the grasslands. Everyone stick close together and be ready to run."

The rest of the Pridelanders immediately shuffled together into a tight group, none of them looking particularly pleased about my decision. Then again, I would've have pretty surprised if they had.

I led the group to the edge of the clearing, where I stopped and took one last look at the outcropping of rock that had served as my home for the last nine months. For some reason, I had a sinking feeling that I wouldn't be returning for a long time. The harsh baying of a hyena brought me back to reality. We had to go. I glanced over at the rest of my pride. Nine anxious faces stared back at me.

Nine faces. Great. Just great.

"Where's Kima?" I asked the other cubs. _Leave it to Kima to run off at a time like this,_ I thought as the rest of the Pridelanders fruitlessly looked for the scrawny beige cub.

"Right here," a disembodied voice replied. I swept over the clearing once again, but couldn't see the brown-furred cub anywhere. Where was he?

"I'm up here," the voice said, answering my unspoken question. Looking up, I could just barely make out Kima perched on a branch near the top of the same tree I had first seen him in. He was camouflaged so well by the thick branches and leaves that he was almost indiscernible from the ground.

"You guys go ahead," Kima continued as I squinted up at him. "I'm staying here. They'll never find me in this tree."

"Kima…" I said with a small smile. I should have known he'd be up in a tree somewhere, but then again it was nearly impossible to see him hidden between the bright green leaves even now. When Kima climbed up into the canopy, it was like he had turned invisible.

Invisible. He was invisible in the trees.

We would all be invisible in the trees.

"You're a genius," I said giddily, finishing the sentence I had started a moment before.

"I am?" Kima replied, looking just as confused as the rest of the Pridelanders.

"Come on down," I continued, a broad grin stretching out across my face. "I've got a better idea about where to hide." As Kima jumped down from the tree, Afya's eyes lit up, obviously having come to the same conclusion I had. The other cubs, however, still looked utterly baffled by my newfound confidence.

"Simba, what are you talking about?" Nala asked with a furrowed brow. "Where are we going to hide?"

"In plain sight," I answered with a laugh as I strutted out into the savanna. Once again, Kima had saved us. Not only had he shown me how we could hide from the hyenas, but he'd also given me an idea about where. I just hoped I could find the acacia forest again.

* * *

Boy, Kima just keeps saving everyone else's butts, doesn't he? He's definitely one of my favorite characters...but not my main favorite. My main favorite character gets to have the next two chapters focus on him and his backstory. I think I've already said who he is, or at the very least I've dropped a bunch of hints. In any case, you'll find out in a couple days! R&R (as always), and watch out for a quick update!


	12. Chapter 11: The Forest

**Chapter 11: The Forest**

**Simba**

"You do realize how insane this is, right?"

I swiveled my head around to lock eyes with Usiku, giving myself a weird sense of vertigo in the process. Being held fifteen up in the air by a rickety tree branch does that to you. Other than that, though, my idea to hide in the treetops of the acacia copse where Kima had gotten his first kill seemed to be working beautifully. Not that Usiku would ever accept one of my decisions so easily.

"Of course it's insane," I whispered back. "That's why they won't expect it."

Usiku didn't answer for a moment, giving me an opportunity to check on how the other Pridelanders were faring. Nala was still perched on a bough next to mine, and Jua had her forepaws clamped tightly around Usiku's branch in the tree next to the one Nala and I shared. About thirty feet away, Tama shared a particularly large acacia with Amani, and Afya and Uruzi were set up in the tree next to them. Tojo and Tani looked like they were doing fine as well in a tree to my right, provided neither of them fell from the lofty branches they had chosen as their hiding place. The only cub I couldn't see was Kima, but I wasn't worried about him. After all, a lion named "monkey" had to be fairly good at climbing trees, which was why I had charged him with being our hyena lookout. If Kima caught even one whiff of those mangy mutts, he'd warn us all with a fake birdcall.

"So what do we do if they find us?" Usiku blurted out suddenly.

"They won't find us," I replied confidently. "And even if they do, we have the higher position, so we have the advantage."

Usiku still didn't look convinced, and I could tell he was still trying to find a hole in my plan. "You know, optimism never killed anyone," I teased with a smirk.

A thin smile briefly played across the dark lion's face. "Hey, someone's gotta play devil's advocate," he said with a laugh. "Although I will admit it's a pretty tricky job right now."

"So we're cool, right?" I asked tentatively, hoping I had finally gained Usiku's trust. For a few seconds, he was silent once more.

"We'll see," he finally replied. I would've have pressed further if not for the scratchy caw that rang out through the forest at that exact moment. Despite the implications, my grin grew wider for a split second at the sound of the gravelly yell. For someone so accustomed to being high in the air, Kima really sucked at bird calls. Nevertheless, it did the trick, and the woods instantly took on a deathly silence.

For what seemed like hours, the whole forest was motionless. The prickly shadows of the trees lengthened more with every minute, and the only sound was the occasional booming roll of thunder. As dark storm clouds blanketed what little bit of the sky I could see through the thick leaves of the forest canopy, I began to have second thoughts about my idea to hide so high up in the air. When Kima had first inspired my latest crazy plan, it had never occurred to me that we might have to watch out for a bolt from the heavens in addition to a bite from the ground. Another thunderclap split the sky, this time accompanied by a jagged slash of lightning criss-crossing across the clouds, and I gripped the branch supporting me as tightly as I could.

"Damn, that was a big 'un!"

I glanced down as slowly as I could, trying to keep the branch completely still. Through the gaps in the branches, I saw two hyenas picking their way through the shrubbery, one of them thin and wiry and the other more solidly built. As the two canines padded closer to my hiding spot, I saw Usiku's eyes narrow out of the corner of my eye. I kept my gaze focused on the hyenas and prayed that he would stay calm. He had seemed fairly levelheaded earlier, but I hadn't known him long enough to predict how he'd react. All I could do was hope he'd stick to the plan and not give away our position.

"I don't know what we're doin' wanderin' around in here," the thicker hyena complained as he stopped right under my branch. "Hell, if they're dumb enough to hang out in a bunch of trees during a thunderstorm, they can stay here for all I care."

"It's a good thing you do care, then," the smaller one replied in a sarcastic tone that was surprisingly high-pitched. I was a bit surprised when I realized that the smaller hyena was female. "Or at least, you care about Scar not ripping your tail off and using it as a chew toy."

"Hey, lighten up already," her stockier partner growled. "You don't give a rat's ass about catching those cubs any more than I do!"

"We have orders!"

"Screw orders! We're not Scar's slaves! Ten minutes ain't gonna make a difference." Before his comrade could argue, the larger hyena plopped down and stretched out under a giant tree. More specifically, the same giant tree I was currently sitting in. I groaned inwardly and fervently hoped that his partner would be able to get him moving again.

"What the hell d'you think you're doing?" the girl said with a glare. "Get your lazy ass up!"

"Make me," the larger male mumbled back, refusing to move even when his partner gave him a hearty shove in the back. The girl let out an exasperated growl and stalked away, mumbling something about her friend being able to "find his own way out if he's so smart." I kept my relieved sigh as quiet as I could manage. Now there was only one hyena to deal with. At least, that was the case for a little while. Emphasis on _little_.

You know that old legend about tapping your claws on wood? Turns out those old wives knew a thing or two, because I swear not even a minute had passed before the girl was back again, slowly creeping back to where her now alert partner was sprawled out underneath my tree.

"Knew you couldn't stay away," he said with a cocky grin as she gingerly lied down beside him.

"Shut up," the girl replied, a tiny smile ruining her attempt at an angry glare.

_Great…now I've got two hyenas parked right underneath me, _I moaned inside my head. _And my legs are starting to cramp up. Could this possibly get any worse?_

You'd think I would've learned not to tempt fate by now.

"We're gonna get in so much trouble," the girl said suddenly.

"Who says anyone's gonna find out?" the guy answered in a quiet and somewhat seductive voice. "There's no one out here to see us…" He rubbed his muzzle across the girl's for a brief moment. "And no one to make us do anything we don't want to…"

The girl turned to face her partner, a strange gleam in her eye. All I could do was stare and wonder whether this was really happening right underneath my hiding place. Apparently, things could get a whole lot worse.

_Oh, come on, _I half-begged under my breath. _Please don't make me watch this. They're not really gonna start kissing right under my…_

_Yes. Yes, they are. Boy, I suck at picking hiding spots._

I became incredibly interested in a single leaf dangling above my head and tried to ignore the various noises escaping from the two lovesick hyenas I was forced to share a planet with, praying as hard as I could for a lightning strike somewhere close by. Preferably, right on top of me. Usiku kept his eyes open, but I noticed his tail take a strategic position right over Jua's muzzle. I couldn't see Nala, but I had a pretty good idea of what her face looked like.

_Hey, Dad?_, I asked silently as an impassioned moan rose through the swaying branches of the tree. _Little help?_

Well, I will say this: the next thing that happened did succeed in distracting the two lovebirds lying fifteen feet beneath my aching paws, which would've been great had the "distraction" not been a loud and distinctively leonine squeal coming from across the way. My eyes snapped open as soon as the shriek reached my ears, and there in front of me were two sights that would give me nightmares for weeks. The first thing I saw was another full-on view of our two hyena friends…or rather, another full-on view of one of our hyena friends. I could only assume that the girl was hidden somewhere underneath the hulking mass currently slobbering all over her face. Try and get _that _image out of your head. Possibly more horrible, though, was the source of the scream I had heard a moment before, which turned out to be a panicked Uruzi hanging onto a branch with nothing but her forelegs. As I watched in slowly dawning horror, the terror-stricken cub's claws slipped farther and farther down the rough bark of the branch, until with a final shriek she separated from the tree entirely, dropping like a rock to the hard earth below. To make matters worse, Uruzi apparently hadn't heard the news about cats always landing on their feet, and the rustling crash of her back slamming into the brush below was probably loud enough to make the lionesses back at Pride Rock prick up their ears, let alone the two vicious hyenas lounging a few feet away.

Usiku was moving almost before I had even registered what had happened. The male hyena hardly had time to look up at the sudden noise before Usiku's forepaws slammed into the back of his head, knocking him out cold. Luckily for us, the mutt's girlfriend was too shocked by the sight of the dark lion cub straddling her unconscious boyfriend's back to even think about attacking, allowing me to slide out of the tree without her noticing. Of course, she probably noticed when I used her skull to break my fall, but thankfully she wasn't awake long enough to do anything about it. She was knocked out just as quickly as her partner.

I rolled off the now motionless hyena and glanced over to where Uruzi was slowly getting back on her feet. She looked a little wobbly and was nursing what must have been a wicked headache, but otherwise she looked fine. I had half a mind to change that on the spot, but I managed to restrain myself. After all, she didn't mean to fall out of a completely motionless tree and almost ruin our entire plan and almost get everyone killed. It was an accident. I wasn't going to get angry.

_Right, and neither will the monkeys flying outta my…_

"Simba?" Nala asked suddenly. I blinked. When had she come down from the tree? And why were my claws latched into the ground like I was about to fly off the face of the earth?

"You okay?" she continued, glancing down at my clenched paws. I retracted my claws as casually as I could and nodded.

"Yep, just peachy," I said with hardly any strain in my voice. "Uruzi's okay, no one's dead…we're all just-"

"There they are! Get 'em!"

Maybe I should just carry around a big block of wood and smack myself in the head with it whenever I was tempted to speak. You know, just to solve two problems at once.

I didn't even need to look to know who had spoken, but I did anyway. Even from a hundred yards away, it was obvious that these two hyenas were both at least twice as large as the one Usiku had knocked out and probably twice as nasty. Judging by the deep growls emanating from both of their throats, they were also both male, effectively eliminating any chance at another romantic distraction. And as if I needed another reason to briefly lose control of my bladder (not that I did, mind you…no way), they looked fast. And hungry. And extremely pissed off.

"Come on!" I yelled, intending to just garner the attention of Usiku and Nala. Unfortunately, Tojo seemed to think that my call applied to him too, which prompted him to do exactly what I had hoped he wouldn't do and jump down from his own tree to join us. The hyenas' eyes narrowed at the same time mine closed in exasperation.

"They're in the trees!" one of them shouted with a snarl, confirming my worst fear. Tojo took on a nauseated look as he realized the gravity of his mistake, and he immediately backed up into the shrubbery as if that would somehow erase the last ten seconds. With an anguished groan, I yanked him back out and took off into the suddenly foreboding woods with Nala, Usiku, and a now terrified Tojo right behind me.

A thousand thoughts rushed through my head as I ran, most of them having to do with the rest of my pride I had just abandoned. My last hope was that the hyenas would focus on me and not the other more difficult targets squirreled away in the rafters of the forest canopy. Everyone knew that our last resort was to meet at the river fork nearby and try to cross from there, and the hyenas being distracted by my escape attempt would make it that much easier for the rest of the Pridelanders to sneak away to our predetermined rendezvous point. Unfortunately, that plan didn't really account for the survival of the four of us currently sprinting for our lives away from two of the biggest and scariest hyenas I had ever seen. It also didn't account for the piercing scream that rang out without warning and seemed to punch the breath out of the very forest.

"_HELP!_"

I skidded to a halt as the wail echoed ominously in the distance, feeling queasy with dread. Whatever fear I was feeling paled in comparison to the look on Usiku's face, though. For the first time in my life, I saw an expression of utter terror completely encompass the black lion's features, and I began to have a sinking feeling that he knew exactly who had made that terrible noise.

"Jua…" he said in a horrified whisper. He was gone before my stomach had even gotten a chance to finish dropping into my feet.

"Get to the river!" I yelled at Nala and Tojo, who had stopped a few yards behind me. I didn't bother to wait for a reply before tearing after Usiku like my life depended on it. Or rather, Usiku's life. No matter how good of a fighter he thought he was, he would never survive a full-on battle with the two meatheads chasing us. I had to stop him, or at the very least help him free his sister from the clutches of the hyenas.

Of course, that would've been a heck of a lot easier to do if I'd had any shot at catching up to the dark blur streaking between the even darker trees. Even in a full sprint, I could just barely keep Usiku in my sights, and that was before another gut-wrenching scream made him somehow run faster. I threw my legs out in front of me as quickly as I could, my throat feeling dry as a desert. How could he keep this up for so long?

The answer to that question was made obvious as the two hyenas came into view once more. Trapped behind their twin leers and vicious grins was an utterly terrified Jua, who couldn't do anything but shudder as the two massive canines slowly advanced towards the quivering cub. Even from so far away I could see that her face was soaked with tears, much to the delight of the heartless hyenas. Suddenly, the angriest snarl I'd ever heard made both of Jua's captors whip their heads around. Usiku had finally reached the clearing.

I don't think the first hyena ever even realized what hit him. Heck, I barely even realized what hit him. I blinked, and the next thing I knew the hyena was ten feet away flat on his back, with a stocky black lion cub clawing at his throat. The other hyena threw himself head first at Usiku, and with a growl bit down hard on his motionless partner's bare chest, aiming for what he had thought was his friend's attacker. Usiku was already two steps ahead, though, and with another snarl he slammed into the confused canine with blinding speed, sending the pair of them rolling across the clearing like two cubs play-fighting by the watering hole. Except this wasn't a play-fight. This was as real as it gets.

My sprint slowed to a jog and then to a dead stop as I watched the ensuing battle with a mixture of horror and awe. The hyena was three times the size of Usiku and tough as nails, yet I couldn't see one scratch anywhere on the black cub's body. The hyena, meanwhile, was a different story, with a new wound appearing on his legs or his back or his muzzle every second. The hyena fell away for a moment and waited for Usiku to charge at him, absolute rage seeming to spill out of every pore in the dark cub's body. The hyena's destroyed face twisted into an angry leer, and just as Usiku leapt for his throat he brought his right foreleg around and swiped at Usiku with all the strength he had.

The hyena never even touched him.

Before the hyena's claws could slice through Usiku's vulnerable flank, the black cub already had his jaws around the beast's throat. The hyena was dead before he hit the ground.

As Usiku stood up slowly, blood dripping from his open muzzle and a blackness darker than his coat flashing in his eyes, I started to feel incredibly lightheaded. It wasn't long before I realized I hadn't taken a breath since the fight began. Usiku's fury had left me utterly spellbound, but just as soon as it had come it was gone again. His eyes went soft as he glanced over to where Jua was staring at him with gaping eyes still wet with tears.

"Jua…" he said softly. "You okay?"

Usiku moved closer and tried to wrap a foreleg around his sister's back, only to have her stumble away. The terror from her encounter with the hyenas hadn't faded at all at the sight of her brother coming to the rescue. If anything, it had gotten worse.

She was afraid of him.

Shock mingled with disbelief on Usiku's face, until finally the two emotions merged into a miserable look of heartbreak. As Jua closed her eyes and looked away, Usiku blinked hard and glanced down at his still blood-streaked claws, his ears flat against his skull. For a minute, I was sure he was going to cry. But when he looked up again, his eyes were still dry despite the utter devastation spilling out in his drooping face and mouth.

"Jua…" he started again. "I'm so sorry. I got so worried about you, I just…I'd never hurt you now, you know that."

Jua didn't turn around, but she also didn't move any farther away. A bit of hope began to push through the cloud surrounding Usiku's face as he inched a bit closer to his still fearful sister.

"Please, Star," he continued, somehow keeping a steady voice. "Don't…don't do this to me. I…" Usiku paused and licked his lips, shuddering at the lingering taste of the hyena's blood. "I lost control. I won't do it again, I promise."

Jua finally looked her brother in the eyes again. She blinked once, and bit her lip. She still looked scared, but I couldn't tell if it was stemming from the sight of the black lion sitting beside her or just left over from her encounter with the hyenas. Usiku stared unblinkingly back into his sister's face, almost daring her to look away again. She didn't move a muscle.

"You know me," he murmured, his voice so soft I could barely even tell he was speaking. "You know me."

And just like that, the barrier between them was gone. Jua practically flung herself into her big brother's chest and quietly sobbed, her eyes squeezed shut and one of her forelegs wrapped tightly around his. As I watched an almost imperceptible sense of relief wash over Usiku's face, I began to have the feeling that I was intruding on something far bigger than I ever could have imagined. Usiku's bond with Jua went way beyond just a tough guy looking out for his little sister, and as that became more and more clear it started to dawn on me that there was a lot more to the dark-furred cub in front of me than met the eye.

For a while, the three of us just sat there in the clearing, Usiku holding onto Jua like he never wanted to let go and me feeling like the unwanted eavesdropper lurking in the shadows. I didn't want to break up the tender moment, but I was also getting edgier by the second as the far-off echoes of distant hyenas continued to reverberate through the shadowy tree trunks. We, quite literally, weren't out of the woods yet.

Luckily for me, Usiku clued in to my agitation before I was forced to play killjoy and break them apart. With a gentle nudge, he helped Jua to her feet and padded over to the tree line where I was waiting.

"Is she okay?" I asked, motioning at the pale cub still standing close by Usiku's side.

"She'll be fine," he replied, his normally curt tone a little bit softer. "We should get moving."

He didn't have to tell me twice. Without another word, we took off into the forest, heading in the general direction of the river. Or at least, what I thought was the general direction of the river. With the light from the moon blocked out by the thickly woven tree branches above our heads, it was nearly pitch-black on the forest floor, and even though we could all see in the dark just fine, all the trees began to look the same after a while. After ten minutes, I was completely and totally lost.

I finally decided to stop and get my bearings when we stumbled across a clearing that looked an awful lot like the one we had just left ten minutes ago. As Usiku and Jua came to a halt behind me, I stood in the center of the glade and slowly rotated in a circle, trying to look like I knew what I was doing.

_Okay, so there aren't any physical landmarks that would be any help_, I thought, silently reasoning out what to do next. _And the river could be anywhere. The only thing left is instinct. And right now, my instincts are telling me to go…_

"That way," I finished, stopping my gaze on a particularly large tree a few yards away. "We need to go that way."

Usiku gave me a skeptical look. "What, did you forget something?"

All I could do was stare and wonder how I'd screwed up this time. "What are you talking about?"

"Just wondering why we're going back the way we came. I assumed you forgot something." He raised his eyebrows and let his dubious look grow in size. "Or are you just guessing and you really don't have a clue where we are?"

I couldn't decide whether I felt more embarrassed or depressed. I had tried so hard to look confident and competent for the sake of the two other cubs, but once again Usiku was proving impossible to fool. Just one more thing to add to the quickly lengthening list of things I didn't know about the dark cub following me.

I turned around again and listened as hard as I could, desperate to catch even a single whisper of running water. But the forest wouldn't give up its secrets so easily. All I could hear was another distant rumble of thunder and the sound of the wind gusting through the canopy above our heads. Come to think of it, I could hardly hear anything over the sound of rustling leaves and creaking wood. The storm was picking up.

Suddenly, the rustling of the leaves picked up, almost as if something had brushed past them. Except this rustling wasn't coming from the treetops. It was coming from somewhere to my right. Somewhere on the ground.

Something was running through the underbrush. Something big.

And it was headed straight for us.

* * *

Wow, I actually kept my promise. Sweet. And I've even got the next chapter betaread and ready to post. But when to post it...

How does Sunday sound? That's pretty good, don't you think? A five day wait isn't long at all, although I suppose I might be swayed to post a bit earlier if I were to get five reviews before that time. It's your choice.

I wonder if this will look evil in retrospect...probably. Five reviews, people. That's the deal.


	13. Chapter 12: The River

Well, the blackmail almost worked. I did manage to get four reviews in total in five days, so I guess that's better than nothing. I suppose I'm partly to blame for threatening you with a five-day wait between updates after I had already made you wait 2 1/2 weeks for the previous update. So it was like threatening someone who's been waterboarded with a feather under the chin.

Bottom line, I think I'll wait until I actually learn how to blackmail people before I do it again. Big thanks to everyone that did review, though.

* * *

Chapter 12: The River

Simba

I whipped around and ejected my claws, ready to fight at a moment's notice. Usiku shoved Jua behind him and hung back a bit, but I could tell he was bristling for battle as well. We both locked our eyes on the near total darkness enveloping the clearing, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was so intent on crashing towards us. The noise seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, but as it got closer I realized that it was loudest a little bit to my right, between where Usiku was crouched about ten yards away and where I was standing.

The flash of gold was so quick I almost missed it entirely the first time. But then it appeared again, illuminated for hardly a millisecond by a single shaft of moonlight penetrating the dense forest canopy. I glared as hard as I could in the direction of the gold flash, trying to piece together what this thing was. It didn't sound big enough to be a gazelle, but based on the animals I had seen in the forest, that only left hyenas and lions as a possibility. And hyenas didn't have gold fur.

I heaved a huge sigh and grinned at Usiku, whose brow creased at the sight of my relaxed face.

"It's okay," I told him. "It's a lion. It's one of us."

My relieved expression gave way to one of confusion as Usiku's glare hardened even more. "What's got you so worked up?" I asked with a laugh.

"What makes you so sure it's one of ours?" he spat harshly.

"Well, who else could it be?" I replied incredulously, still not understanding why he was so concerned.

"There were twenty cubs when you left, Simba!" he shouted, turning his gaze back to the forest as he spoke. "Twenty!"

What was that supposed to mean? There were only eleven Pridelanders, so that left...

_There were eighteen cubs when you first left._

I blinked. My conversation with Tama the day before was flashing in front of my eyes.

_Three died, two ran away…and eight came with me last night._

I swiveled my head around and faced the forest again. About a hundred feet away, a thin shadow was moving toward us. Moving toward me.

_Last night, I told them about you…about how you were really alive. Some of them, the eight that came here, believed me._

Another flash of gold, this time accompanied by a tiny dot of brown. The shadow was seventy-five feet away.

_Some of them didn't._

Fifty feet, and the flash of brown appeared again. A mane.

_He said there was no way I could lead them out of there._

Twenty-five feet.

_He said there was only one way that we could avoid exile._

None of the Pridelanders had a mane.

_That leaves five others._

The temperature in the forest plunged forty degrees in an instant, and my throat closed up with fear. I had to move quickly if I wanted to live another minute, but my legs weren't under my control anymore. Instead of moving in slow motion, the world seemed to go faster. The rustling of leaves against fur was deafening. As the shadow finally shot into the clearing, I shut my eyes and waited for the end.

The first blow sent me flying away across the forest floor, every nerve on the right side of my body singing with pain. I tucked into a ball and rolled as best I could, trying to dodge away from the deadly swipe I knew was coming next. But that swipe never came. Instead, two agonized growls cut through the air, one right after the other. I scrambled to my feet as soon as they were back under me again, almost shaking with adrenaline. A few feet away, Usiku was staring down a thin teenage lion with a scraggly brown mane covering his shoulders and chest. The black cub was favoring his right foreleg heavily, and his face was filled with a blend of rage and pain. He had pushed me out of the way. He had taken the blow meant for me.

"Well, well, well…" the older lion hissed, an bemused smile splitting his bony face. "Little Usiku. How ya holdin' up? Those whiny brats getting in your way any?"

"I already told you, Jino. I made my choice," Usiku growled slowly.

"But was it the right one? You seem awfully alone out here…"

"I don't need any help to kill you."

"Harsh, man! What happened to that scruffy little cub I practically raised?" The adolescent lion's leer widened. "What happened to Blackheart?" he finished, putting heavy emphasis on the nickname.

Usiku flinched as if the older lion had struck him. "Don't call me Blackheart," he seethed in a low whisper that morphed into a shout. "Don't _ever_ call me Blackheart!"

The crimson eyes of the older lion danced in the light. He was enjoying the anguish he was causing for Usiku. That he was causing for my friend. My eyes narrowed. Usiku's sacrifice for me had knocked some sense into me. I was ready to fight.

"Aw, did I touch a nerve?" Jino cooed in a mocking voice. "Sorry 'bout that, Blackheart…you know I'd never dream of hurting _you_..."

"_Shut up!_" Usiku screamed, his face twisted in fury. As mad as I was at the older lion, I couldn't help but be distracted by the black look seeping into Usiku's eyes. He had looked that way a few minutes earlier when he had torn apart the hyenas. If he lost control again, there was no telling what would happen.

I stepped forward, finally confronting the lion who had tried to kill me. "What do you want?" I demanded, packing every ounce of bravado I could into my question.

The lion flicked his eyes over in my direction, and in that instant the whole situation seemed to flip upside down. Not only were the rust-colored irises lit up with cold malice, there was a slightly unhinged look to them, as if their owner wasn't all there. Immediately, I knew that negotiating with these creep would be a worthless endeavor. At the moment, I wasn't even sure if he was in his right mind.

"And I suppose you must be Simba," the teenager sneered. "Shoulda known you'd get Blackheart here to be your bodyguard."

Usiku flinched again at the sound of the seemingly innocent nickname, and Jino chuckled darkly at the dark cub's distress. "Cry all you want, shrimp. No one here cares."

"Yes, they do," I snarled. "I care. And I don't like seeing someone from my pride get hurt."

At that, Jino dissolved into a frenzy of grating coughs. It took me a moment to figure out he was laughing at me. "Your _pride_?" he wheezed. "Oh, gods, this is rich. You little rats actually think you're part of a _pride_?"

He turned back to Usiku, his chest still shaking. "This is the company you choose to keep, Blackheart? Instead of fighting with us, you hang out with this loser?"

"That _loser_ just so happens to be the rightful king," Usiku replied roughly. "And he also happens to be perfectly capable of helping me kick your ass all the way across this clearing. So yes, I'll be sticking with him."

Jino raised his eyebrows. "Ya really think so? All right, then," he stepped back a few feet and turned to face me. "Let's see. Gimme your best shot."

Infuriated by his cockiness, I sprinted forward as soon as he closed his mouth. Jino didn't even have his claws out, and as I got closer his grin only widened. What was he doing? Why was he so calm?

With a snarl, I leapt into the air, teeth bared and aimed at Jino's throat. The next thing I knew, I was skidding to a halt ten feet away, blinding pain erupting from where Jino's paw had connected with my head. I groggily got to my feet and tried to focus on Jino as he laughed his weird coughing laugh again. He had moved impossibly fast, much too fast for me to be able to take him head-on.

"You see, Blackheart?" Jino said airily. "This pretender ain't even worth breakin' a sweat over, let alone following. All you're doing is hurtin' yourself. You can do better."

"You're insane," Usiku spat.

"I prefer the term 'reality-challenged'. But I digress..."

"I should just kill you now."

Jino scoffed and rolled his eyes. "So you're facing off against your worst enemy, staring death in the face, the crowd watching with bated breath…and that's the best you can come up with?" he said with a disappointed shake of his head. "Come on, let's try for some drama! At least make the last few moments of your life_ interesting_!"

If I had ever had any doubts about the mental state of our foe, they were utterly crushed at that precise moment. This guy was completely insane.

Jino began to circle around Usiku, every step bringing him closer and closer to the wounded black cub. "How about 'I thought you loved me!'?" he sneered. "That one always gets the tears flowing. Or maybe 'You'll never get away with this!'. Stop me when you hear one you like."

"You've got a pretty sharp tongue there, Jino," Usiku growled, never taking his eyes off those of the spiraling tan lion. "It'd be a shame to rip it out and strangle you with it."

"See, that wasn't so hard!" Jino said with a deranged grin. "It's fun, isn't it? Now let's ratchet up the tension a bit, shall we?"

Once again, I didn't see Jino's paw until it smashed into my face at a whiplash-inducing speed. The impact sent me flying away, adding to the already nearly mind-numbing pain coursing through my skull. This time, I didn't get up. The second blow felt like it had crushed both the bones in my head and my soul all at once. I had been so sure that I could sneak up on him and take him by surprise while he was taunting Usiku, but Jino had seen me coming the whole time. My legs and paws felt like they were filled with lead, and my head was throbbing so bad I was afraid I was going to throw up.

"A valiant effort, but sadly futile," Jino commented in a disinterested voice. "And I didn't even have to turn around. You're pathetic, Simba."

Jino spun his head back around and stared directly into Usiku's eyes. "Just like you."

Finally, Usiku lost control. Somehow, he was quick enough to get in one scratch before Jino could dodge away, but it was only enough to annoy him further. Even worse, Jino didn't even have to attack back as Usiku collapsed in agony, his left forepaw clamped over his right shoulder. He had swiped with his hurt arm, and it had cost him dearly. As Usiku fought back tears, Jino slowly positioned himself over the weakened cub. He wasn't smiling anymore.

"Did you really think you could win, Blackheart?" Jino hissed. "Did you really think you'd be able to defeat the one who taught you everything you know, who took you in when no one else would?"

My mind reeled, even in its sluggish state. _Taught him everything? Took him in?, _I wondered slowly._ Who is this guy?_

"I gave you a chance, Usiku," Jino continued, his voice dropping into an almost mournful whisper. "I gave you a chance to be something. And you blew it."

"Go to hell," Usiku gasped through clenched teeth.

Jino's maniacal grin returned. "Funny, I've always wanted to see the place. You'll have to tell me what it's like when you get there."

Usiku's eyes widened in tandem with mine. Frantically, I tried to get my feet under me, but I was moving too slow. I would never reach him in time. Jino's claws came out with a faintly audible _snick_.

"Tell your dad I said hi," he murmured.

I shut my eyes and waited to hear Usiku's final scream. But the yell that rang out a second later didn't sound at all like the dark-furred cub. In fact, I could've sworn the shout had come from…

Jino?

I opened my eyes and stared at the scene in front of me. Jino had fallen back to a few feet behind Usiku's limp form, his confused gaze flashing back and forth between a nasty-looking gash on his foreleg and the pale cub standing over Usiku. Jua glared back, her claws out and her fur bristling.

"...The hell?" Jino mumbled in barely concealed shock. "Where'd you come from?" I stared too, a bit shocked at the sudden change in Jua. In all the commotion, I had forgotten she was even with us, and apparently Jino had as well.

"Leave my brother alone," Jua replied, her fur bristling her voice uncharacteristically hostile.

Jino's eyebrows narrowed for a moment before shooting back up again. "Your…oh, right, you're Jua. I remember you. You wouldn't believe the things your brother told me about you..."

"He's lying, Jua!" I shouted, my head still buzzing. "Don't listen to him!"

"Oh, by all means, listen to Mr. 'Rightful King' over here," Jino added sarcastically. "Why listen to me? I'm only your brother's former best friend. What could I possibly know about his true feelings?"

"You're not his friend," Jua replied coldly. "You were always mean to him. Why can't you just go away?"

"Well, don't I feel threatened," Jino intoned with a roll of his eyes. "And I suppose you're gonna chase me off?"

"That's right," I said, moving forward to stand by Jua. "We are. If you want to get to Usiku, you'll have to go through us first."

Jino gave us yet another incredulous stare, but I could tell he was starting to get annoyed. Maybe if we could grind his patience down enough, he would decide we weren't worth the trouble.

"All right, then," Jino said suddenly, extending his claws again. "I'm flexible." His gaze centered on Jua. "Ladies first."

Okay, so the frustration plan wasn't working too well. If I didn't think of something fast, we'd be wet spots in the ground before I could say "oops". Luckily for us, I didn't have to think at all, because before Jino could take two steps another voice rang out from somewhere close by, accompanied by the same rustling I had heard from Jino. Except this time, I knew for sure that the approaching creature was a friend instead of a foe. After all, there was only one lion I'd ever known that liked to hang out in trees.

"Simba?" Kima said as his head popped into view on a branch high above the clearing. "Is that you?"

Jino cursed under his breath and drug a forepaw down his face. "For the love of…how many of you are there?" he groaned.

"A few. Eleven, to be precise," I replied with a grin. "And they're all gonna be here in a few seconds. Right, Kima?" I glanced up into the treetops and covertly winked at the small brown cub.

Kima caught on quickly, much to my relief. "Yeah, everyone else was right behind me," he said with the perfect amount of innocence. "They'll be here in a minute or two. What's goin' on?"

"So, Jino, think you can hold up against the whole pride?" I said boldly. "You seemed pretty confident a while ago…care to put your claws where your mouth is?"

For the first time since he had entered the clearing, Jino looked worried. I could tell he wasn't looking forward to fighting off almost a dozen cubs, especially since he'd probably never really wanted to get in a serious fight in the first place. After a few seconds of silence, he sighed loudly and lazily looked at me again.

"Well, as much as I'd love to do just that, I think I'd like to have an audience first," he said, still cocky even as he was backing away. "How does a few dozen hyenas sound?"

"Sounds great," I answered. "We'll wait right here."

Jino's eyes narrowed. "I'll remember you, Simba. If I were you, I'd hope to never see me again."

I wanted so badly to say something smart back, but I was afraid that any more taunting would convince him to stay and take his chances with us. I kept my mouth shut and watched as Jino slinked back off into the shadows, only opening it again to sigh in relief when I could no longer hear the swish of leaves brushing against his hide.

"Great timing, Kima," I said wearily. "I don't know what we would've done if you hadn't shown up."

"Glad I could help," Kima replied in a distracted voice, his gaze focused on Usiku. "What happened to Usiku? Is he hurt?"

With a jolt of fear, I remembered how Usiku had fallen after slashing Jino. I jogged over to his still motionless form, my stomach churning when I saw the extent of the damage. A long bloody gash ran all the way down his right foreleg, starting at his shoulder and curling forward to end at the top of his paw. Jino had been aiming for me when he had done this. There was no doubt in my mind that I'd be dead if Usiku hadn't pushed me out of the way.

Usiku groaned suddenly, making both Jua and I jump back a little. Amazingly, he was still conscious, but just barely. His eyes were no more than slits, and his paws still remained limp by his side. He wasn't going to be walking anywhere anytime soon. One of us would have to carry him.

"Can you still run?" I asked Jua, who nodded without a moment's hesitation. "Good, then give me a hand with him." I laid down on my stomach and carefully nosed my way under Usiku's hurt leg, kicking his hind right leg over my back at the same time. Then I glanced over at Jua, who crouched down and pushed up into her brother's side, propelling him the rest of the way onto my back. I took a few cautionary steps to get used to the new weight on my back, already adjusting to the extra sixty pounds.

"What're you doin'…" I heard Usiku mumble in a slurred voice.

"I'm getting you out of here," I replied gruffly. "Just stay still and try not to fall off, okay?"

Usiku groaned again, which I took as an affirmative answer. I shifted the load on my back a bit so I could look up at Kima. "Can you lead us back to the rest of the pride?" I asked him.

"Yeah, sure," he replied. "Stay close behind me, okay?"

Kima took off in front of me, jumping from branch to branch just like his namesake. I did my best to keep up, but with Usiku still comatose on my back it was slow going. As we weaved in between countless tree trunks, my mind kept wandering back to Jino's threat of bringing back a few hyenas with him when he came after us again. From what I'd seen of the teenage lion, it was probably just another empty threat, but I had no way of knowing it for sure. Needless to say, if any more hyenas or enemy lions happened to find us out here, we had no hope of fighting them off. We were running on pure luck now. A constant barrage of thunderclaps assaulted my ears as we ran, and the first of what was sure to be billions of pelting raindrops began to slap against the leaves of the forest canopy soon after we left the clearing.

After what seemed like hours, I finally heard the faint crashing sound of running water. I should've been relieved, but instead a pang of suspicion forced its way to the front of my mind. As far as I could tell, we were still deep inside the forest. How could I hear the river from so far away?

A few minutes later, the gaps between the trees began to get wider, until finally the forest opened up into a small grassy clearing. As Kima jumped down to join us on the ground, I looked ahead and counted seven nervous-looking cubs scattered around the murky space. Behind them sat our last hope at escape, the generally calm and shallow Great River of the Pridelands. With an awful sinking feeling in my chest, I at last discovered the reason for the unusual loudness of the waterway.

Apparently, the storm had been even worse than I'd feared. The frenzied winds and stinging rain descending from the dark clouds had swollen the river so much that it lapped at the roots of some of the closer trees. Instead of meandering along at its own pace, the current ripped through the canal at twice its normal speed, dark waves crashing endlessly against the eroded bank. That was the sound I had heard almost a mile away. We would never be able to swim the forty feet across to the other side.

"Simba!" Tama called out as I came into view, his voice steady despite his stressed look. "What happened in there?" Tama's gaze slid up to Usiku. "Is he..." he started to ask before I cut him off with a vigorous shake of my head. Even if I had had time to tell him about Usiku, I was so out of breath from bearing the dark cub on my back that I could hardly get a word out between gasps of air.

I moved quickly to the center of the group and gently slid Usiku off my back, the sudden change in weight giving me the strangest sensation that I was floating. Ignoring the other cubs for a moment, I walked a bit closer to the water, trying to see if there was a rock or a log or anything that would help us cross protruding from beneath the surface of the rapids, but all I could see was white foam and utter blackness. The roar from the waves was nearly deafening.

Still refusing to give up hope, I padded a bit closer to the edge and leaned out to look downstream. Maybe downstream I would find something that we could use as a bridge. But the river was just as treacherous and impassable a thousand feet away as it was in front of me. My gaze slid over to a towering tree that was leaning over the turbulent river, nearly all of its gnarled roots laid bare thanks to the endless torrent of water rushing over and through them. If there weren't any bridges handy, then we'd just have to make one ourselves.

I called out to Tama and Tani, who followed me over to where the massive trunk clung desperately to the quickly eroding riverbank. Trying not to think about how tired I was, I threw my shoulder into the rough bark and pushed as hard as I could. To my surprise, the tree actually gave a little, and I was instantly filled with renewed vigor.

"Help me push this over!" I grunted at the two cubs behind me, who were quick to oblige. With the three of us finishing what the river started, the once majestic tree toppled out and over the rapids, coming to a crashing halt on the opposite bank. Now the tree was entirely horizontal, stretching all the way across the river and hanging just a few inches above the roaring water.

"Everybody on!" I shouted to the rest of the pride, all of whom had followed me over to the weakened log as well, with the exception of Nala who had stayed behind to look after Usiku. "If we can get across the river, we should be home free."

"By using _that_?" Uruzi protested. "You expect me to risk my life walking on that rickety old thing?"

"Yes, I do," I said without a trace of sympathy. "Now get on the log."

"Forget it," she scoffed. "There's no way in hell I'm putting even one paw on that-"

At that exact moment, a demonic hyena chuckle echoed out from the woods, so loud that I half expected to see its owner creeping out of the treeline behind us. Everyone jumped about a foot in the air, and Uruzi's eyes were threatening to pop right out of her skull.

"Out of my way!" she squealed in a panicked voice, bulling her way through the crowd in an effort to get on the log first. A second later, she was forty feet away and back on dry land again, staring back at us with a seemingly nonchalant expression.

"Aren't you guys coming?" she shouted over the roar of the river, her voice sounding completely calm but her legs shaking like there was an earthquake ripping through the opposite bank.

"Simba..." Tama said hesitantly as the rest of the pride turned to look at me.

"I'm fine," I said as I yanked my claws out of the ground once again. "Make sure everyone gets across. I'm gonna go get Usiku."

Tama nodded with a strange look on his face that made me wonder if he was feeling all right until he realized he was trying not to laugh. _He can laugh all he wants once we're on the other side_, I told myself as I jogged back to where I had left Usiku. _Or maybe I should just let him deal with Uruzi next time. I'm sure that'd be just _hilarious_._

"He's hurt really bad, Simba," Nala said worriedly as I padded up. "I don't think he's awake anymore."

"We can't do anything to help him till we get across the river," I mumbled without really looking at her. "Give me a paw here, would you?"

I crouched down to slip Usiku's foreleg over my back again and was surprised at how heavy my eyelids felt. I probably would've fallen asleep right there in the clearing if Nala hadn't pawed at my shoulder.

"Come on, Simba!" she said forcefully, the concern in her voice growing even clearer. "Don't quit now…we're almost there!"

I blinked hard and nodded, still fighting to keep my eyes open. I stood up as soon as Nala had nudged Usiku's inert body the rest of the way up onto my back. Her cold nose brushed against my side just a bit longer than necessary, and all of a sudden I was wide-awake again.

"Let's go," she said softly, a ghost of a smile playing across her lips.

By the time we reached the log, the rest of the Pridelanders had already crossed over the makeshift bridge and were waiting a bit impatiently for us to follow suit. Nala hopped up on the log first and waited to make sure I got up all right before moving forward. I glanced around and didn't see a single hyena, and for one shining moment I thought we were safe. For one shining moment, I thought we might actually make it out of the Pridelands unhindered.

And then he showed up.

We were halfway across the log when we heard it: a dry, coughing laugh that I had come to know far too well in the past few hours. With an almost crushing sense of despair, I looked back towards the shore we had just left, knowing exactly what I'd see there. Sure enough, a bony tan lion with a dirty brown mane was standing not even a hundred feet away, his lips pulled back into a malicious grin.

"Hey there, Simba!" he shouted over the rumble of both the water below and the roiling sky above. "Long time no see!"

"Simba, who is that?" Nala said in an unnerved whisper. "What's going on?"

"Run," I muttered back, giving her a shove in the behind for good measure. "Go!"

"Where ya going, _your highness_?" I heard Jino yell as Nala scampered the rest of the way across the bridge. "You don't want to disappoint your fans, do you?"

_My fans?_

I turned around slowly and saw with another jolt of horror who my "fans" were. Hyenas streamed out from the treeline like a swarm of black ants, all of them laughing and snarling enough to strike fear into the heart of the largest lion, let alone a bunch of cubs. Jino's leer got even bigger at the sight of my terror.

"I know I promised a few dozen, but I could only rustle up thirty on such short notice," he shouted apologetically. "Hope you're not disappointed."

I sprinted across the rest of the bridge like Death itself was on my tail, which in a way I guess it was. I didn't even feel the extra weight on my shoulders through my panic, and I only remembered the unconscious black cub straddling my back when he nearly slid off into the deadly rapids less than a foot away. I practically fell off the other end of the log, knowing that every second that ticked by brought me closer to my doom.

I let Usiku slide off my back again the instant I was on dry land, not even bothering to check on his condition. In a few seconds it wouldn't matter, unless I could somehow destroy the bridge and keep the hyenas at bay.

Jino wasn't hurrying towards the bridge. He was strolling, like he was just out for an innocent promenade through the savanna. He knew as well as I did that we had nowhere to run.

"Wh-what are we gonna do, Simba?" Tojo stammered, his eyes huge.

"Not now, Tojo!" I snapped. Couldn't he see I was stressed out already without him reminding me of how screwed we were? I was trying to save his life!

But there was nothing that could help us. There was no way we could move such a massive tree twice, and even if we ran they would hunt us down with ease. I had thought we were trapped before; now I knew it.

Another wave of panic rolled over me, and I almost collapsed right there on the riverbank. We were gonna die. Right here, right now, with no one to hear us scream. I was completely paralyzed with the thought of finally being caught, finally feeling black claws rip through my soul, finally seeing the world fade to black and be still. No escape. No way out. Trapped.

Jino stepped onto the log bridge.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Tojo's face, his chalk-white skin visible even through his brown fur. Tojo. Gods above, _Tojo_. He was going to die too. Everyone was going to die because of me. Why had I dragged them into this? Tama could've taken them out into the desert. They could've found another pride. But no. They came to me. And I led them straight to their doom.

I shut my eyes and tried to force away the stream of images rushing through my head. Instead of my own life, the lives of the ten other cubs destined to die with me flashed before my eyes. Tama squirmed under my paws with a determined grin. Nala rubbed her head against mine, her vibrant green eyes shining in the moonlight. Afya shoved Kima off her back with an angry squeal. Amani cast her eyes down at her paws as she christened our doomed pride. Usiku wrapped his foreleg around Jua's back. Even Uruzi was there for a split second, stretched out in a sunny spot by the river.

And last of all, Tojo launched himself into the water, bowling over Tani with his massive wake. I remembered being so skeptical that the stocky cub could've been swamped by a simple wave, but there was the evidence right in front of me. The water was stronger than I had imagined. The wave was stronger than I had imagined.

The water.

A wave.

All we needed was a wave.

_Don't get your hopes up_, I told myself. _There's nothing here big enough to do that. You're wasting your time._

I opened my eyes. Twenty feet away, a huge boulder teetered on a ledge overlooking the river.

Jino was a third of the way across the log.

There was no way it would work. We couldn't push it off. The wave wouldn't be big enough. The bridge would still stand.

But I had to try.

"Aw, don't run off now!" Jino yelled. "You haven't even met my friends yet!"

I didn't listen. I barely even heard him. Every single cell in my body was zeroed in on the rock that might, just might, save us all. As I leapt up the incline to where the boulder hung over the precipice, Jino's amused grin began to fade a bit.

"Not to put down your brilliant plan or anything, but I don't think it'll be any harder to kill you up there," Jino continued. His voice still sounded cocky, but I could tell he didn't have a clue what I was doing. Good. The longer he stood there jawing at me, the better chances this plan had of actually working.

The boulder's hulking mass was big enough to block out what little moonlight still poked through the angry mauve storm clouds pulsating above my head. I doubted I could move this thing in a month's time, let alone in less than a minute. In spite of that, I still threw my shoulder into it and pushed with every bit of strength I had left, knowing full well that I had nothing to lose. I might as well have been pushing against a wall for all the stone moved, though. I kept pushing, but my heart was no longer in it. My one last hope had died just like the rest.

Suddenly, I felt something warm brush against my leg, at the same time feeling a jarring impact vibrate through the impassable wall in front of me. Nala was right beside me, her eyes scrunched up as she strained against the unforgiving stone. A second later, I felt another flash of warmth, this time on my right side.

"I'm just gonna assume you know what you're doing," Tama said with a tiny grin as he pressed his forepaws to the rock and braced his back legs.

One by one, the rest of the Pridelanders joined me up on the ledge, grunting and shoving for all they were worth. If we all weren't a few seconds away from a bloody and most likely very painful death, I would have been happy enough to cry at their faith in me. But I wasn't happy. I wasn't even close.

Because even with ten cubs pushing on it, the rock still didn't budge an inch.

I took a quick peek at Jino's progress across the log, dreading what I'd find. Thankfully, the skinny adolescent had stopped about halfway across the log, but his constant barrage of taunts and jeers, as well as those of his numerous hyena "friends", were making an already hopeless situation somehow worse.

"Hey, your majesty!" Jino called out with a sadistic chuckle. "If you're not too tired from moving that immovable rock, I'd love to chat once you're done. I've got a great idea about getting Rafiki to fly!"

Some lions would've been discouraged by the raucous laughter that spilled out of the jaws of every one of the thirty hyenas, but all it did was make me push harder. The thought of escape had completely slipped my mind. By that point, I just wanted to see Jino's face when that giant wave rose up in front of him. I shoved into the stone until my vision started to fade, but the stupid worthless stubborn son-of-a-monkey's-uncle still wouldn't move! As my legs gave out and sang with pain, I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against the rock. It would take a miracle for us to see another day. And I didn't know if I had one left to use.

The funny part was, I could remember nights out in the river caves when I was all alone, nights when I felt like nothing in my life had ever gone right, when I wondered whether there even were such things as miracles. Whether the gods really were watching over me. Hell, whether the gods even existed. Then again, who could blame me? To lose someone you loved at such a young age, and then to have everyone else you cared about think you were dead…it was enough to make anyone skeptical. But then, as time ran its eternal course, I began to realize that I was lucky. Not just to be alive, but with the most mundane of things. One day I would stumble across a bush filled with berries so sweet I would get a headache if I ate too many, the next day I would find a lone impala after not even a half hour of searching, just begging to become my next meal. With that luck came a sense that there was someone somewhere, if not watching at least checking in from time to time. And gradually, ever so gradually, I began to believe in heaven again. But not in miracles. Not until three days ago, when my own path and the paths of those I had left behind finally intertwined. In the last three days, I had seen enough miracles to last a lifetime. But how many miracles could one lion hope for? How long could someone survive on just luck and the goodwill of a higher power? Well, I was about to find out, because I could see no other way out.

For what seemed like the millionth time in three days, I prayed for a miracle.

And for the millionth time in three days, that's exactly what I got.

Without any warning whatsoever, the boulder shifted. The shock of finally getting some results from our efforts, combined with the infectious feeling of hope that spiked through my brain, was enough to send an excited shiver down my spine. Wasting no time, I gathered whatever strength I had left in my quivering legs and gave the boulder a hearty shove, wanting to laugh and cry at the same time when it jumped forward again. But how was this possible? The ten of us hadn't been able to make a dent in the towering monolith, and we couldn't expect any help from Usiku. But then again, Tulio had always told me to expect the unexpected. And "unexpected" is definitely the right word for what I saw when I looked up again.

Usiku was standing a few feet down the boulder, pushing and shoving with everything he had. If he felt any pain in his leg, he didn't show it. If anything, it seemed like he was even more determined because of it. Maybe he wanted Jino dead as much as I did.

"If you're done staring at me like I'm a freakin' ghost, we could use your help here," Usiku growled suddenly.

He didn't need to tell me twice. One more time, I threw myself at the rock, getting the same exhilarating high every time I felt the unwieldy stone shift another inch. Slowly, ever so slowly, the edge of the boulder began to slide over the end of the ledge. We were gonna do it. We were really gonna do it.

But was it too late?

I chanced one more peek at the log. I can't even describe how satisfying it was to see the utterly baffled look on Jino's face, and to see that he was still parked in the exact same spot right in the center of the log. The boulder began to slide a bit faster. It was about to fall.

Finally, Jino realized what I was trying to do. "Get back!" he screamed at the clueless hyenas stacked up behind him. "Get off the log!" I could only imagine what his face looked like, but I'm pretty sure my vision was more or less accurate. Regardless, it was immensely gratifying to at last have the upper hand on the gaunt lion. My head was pounding from the strain of moving the huge rock, but I knew that the end result was about to make it all worthwhile. All it would take was one last shove.

I turned my head and caught sight of Jino frantically shoving towards the opposite shore, still trapped near the middle of the bridge by the crush of hyenas in front of him. Suddenly, he looked up, and his eyes locked with mine. For one second, we just stared at each other, the hatred between us so great I'm surprised the log underneath him didn't burst into flame. Then my eyes narrowed, and his went wide.

"Suck on this, Jino," I muttered under my breath as I gave the rock a final push. With a harsh grinding screech, the boulder fell.

The sound of the great slab of rock smacking into the churning river was a thunderclap loud enough to drown out the real ones overhead. Jino stood stock still, mesmerized by the giant stone tumbling end over end in front of him. The instant the boulder touched down onto the dark waves of the river, he shut his eyes tight and gripped the log tight with his claws. I watched with wide and hopeful eyes, waiting to see him be swept away by the coming wave.

Except no wave came to sweep him away. When Jino opened his eyes again a moment later, he wasn't even wet. The wave from the boulder had barely brushed the bottom of the log.

"Well, that was exciting," he said with another coughing laugh. "I don't suppose there's any chance of an encore?" Jino's cocksure grin grew wider as he stared up at me, expecting to see a horrified look render me motionless. But I wasn't fazed by his confidence. In fact, I wasn't even looking at him. I was looking down past the ledge, to where the thousand-pound boulder had come to rest in the water. Or rather, where it should have come to rest. And as Jino's gaze slid down to where mine was focused, he saw the same thing I did. And his eyes went even wider than before.

In all the time I had spent trying to get the boulder to fall over the edge and create a wave big enough to wash away the log bridge, it had never occurred to me to devote even a second of thought to where we were dropping it. I hadn't realized that the ledge was too far away and the boulder was too small to make a wave anywhere near big enough to serve the purpose I had hoped for. I hadn't realized how hopeless my original plan really was. But what I also hadn't realized was how the river floor actually sloped down slightly. Or how shallow the river really was. Or how much stronger the current was than we ever could have dreamed. Put all those factors together, and you got what I was seeing now: a very large round boulder, its top half protruding out over the rolling surface of the river, being pushed along the riverbed like it weighed ten pounds instead of a thousand, on a crash course headed straight for Jino.

"Son of a…" Jino mouthed. He never finished his sentence, because at that exact moment the very top of the boulder connected with his gaping jaws.

I couldn't see what happened to Jino, but I could definitely see what happened to the log. The boulder smashed through the thick wooden trunk like it was a twig, sending wood splinters flying in every direction. The two halves of the tree, now tipped with razor-sharp slivers of timber and bark, slid into the river with surprising speed, the one on the far bank taking half a dozen of the thirty hyenas with it. The rest of Jino's group was smart enough (or most likely lucky enough) to be safely on dry land when the boulder permanently wiped the grin off Jino's face. After rolling on for a bit, the boulder came to a standstill a few hundred feet past where the bridge had once stood, with Jino nowhere to be seen. Once again, the river ran clear.

"Not to diminish the gravity of the situation or anything," Usiku said suddenly. "But that was freakin' awesome."

That comment earned a laugh from every one of the weary cubs in my pride, including me. Maybe the black cub wasn't so bad after all. In any case, I could breathe easy for the first time that whole night. We were officially past the border of the Pridelands now. The hyenas couldn't touch us here.

I padded back down from the ledge and relished the smooth sensation of grass against my feet. There were a thousand things that I could have worried about: where we would go, how we would get food, whether Usiku would be okay. But at the moment, the only thought running through my head was a heavenly feeling of security. No matter what happened out in the wild, no matter how far away we went from our lifelong home, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that we would be okay. The threat of a gory demise at the claws of the hyenas was far in the past, and we could handle anything else that came our way. My pride had shown as much tonight, and I had shown as much as their leader.

I plodded slowly away from the river, listening with a slowly growing smile to the angry howls of the hyenas as they faded away into the distance. I looked back. Ten happy faces were right behind me all the way. Bolstered more than they knew by their confidence in me, I turned back around with my head held high. I didn't know where we were going. It didn't matter.

For the first time in the history of our pride, we were safe.

* * *

And that's the end of Part One. See you in December.

Gotcha, didn't I? Come to think of it, this probably would be a pretty good place to end this portion of the story, but I'm afraid I'm not quite done ruining my characters' childhoods just yet. We've still got at least two chapters left for me to throw all kinds of angst their way. While there won't really be any more awesome fight scenes and dramatic moments like in the last couple chapters, there's still one more twist in the road to freedom. As I told my betareader, this chapter serves as the physical climax, but the emotional climax (yes, I did just make that up) is yet to come. I won't give any spoilers, except that loewe/kloiten (the totally awesome reviewer that you are) will finally get their wish. At least, I think they will.

And I'm talking about a literary climax, guys. Grow up, please.


	14. Chapter 13: The Spring

**Chapter 13: The Spring**

**Simba**

It's pretty hard to describe how I felt in the moments after our miraculous escape from Jino and the hyenas. I think there was a part of me that didn't believe it, that still expected there to be one more twist in the seemingly clear path ahead. But then there was another part of me that was just happy to be alive. Everything I saw or touched or smelled seemed to be brighter and cleaner, but at the same time I knew that it had always been like that and I had just missed it. Being so close to death had made me see what I hadn't appreciated before: just being able to walk and feel and breathe. I had been so focused on staying alive the last nine months that I had forgotten about just living. In the light of the moon and with the never-ending plains of the whole world stretched out before me, my perspective changed. Suddenly, we weren't fighting to live: we were living to fight. For this. For the Pridelands. And that made all the difference in the world.

With that new perspective came an unbelievable feeling of power. In the heat of the night, I could do anything. I could march right back to the river and take on the world. I could walk for days and days, and the sun and the grass would give me strength. I was strong. I was free. I was invincible.

That feeling lasted about five minutes. But in retrospect, that was a pretty awesome five minutes.

"Simba?" Tama gasped behind me, his eyelids fluttering open and shut like a hummingbird's wings. "You think…we could stop…for…a second? Or maybe...several days?"

I turned around and glanced over the rest of my pride. Tama wasn't the only one that looked like he was about to keel over. In fact, Nala was the only one that _didn't_ look she was about to keel over, myself included.

I turned around again and faced the uniformly dark skyline, hoping to see something other than flat grassland. But the only thing that stood out was a shadowy lump of something that rose up over the innumerable blades of grass about a half-mile away.

"We'll stop for the night up there," I said, gesturing towards the lump with a weary nod. "At whatever that thing is."

Normally, Tama would've argued about such a sketchy plan. I could almost hear his skeptical voice as the words left my mouth: "So what happens if that _thing_ turns out to be a pissed-off elephant that likes the feel of lion fur between his toes?" But Tama didn't say a word. He just nodded and looked back down at the ground, his tail dragging behind him. Even though I knew it wasn't my fault that he was so wiped out, I still felt an irrational pang of guilt at the sight of my friend's exhaustion. We'd barely had fifteen minutes of rest after the hunt before the hyenas forced us out into the grasslands, and it was obvious that he had been running on fumes for far too long. We had all been running on fumes for far too long.

Despite the supposedly short distance between us and our home for the night, almost a half hour had passed by the time we finally stumbled into the shadow of the mysterious lump. Although the storm had calmed down a bit since we left the river behind, the breeze was still much stronger than it had any right to be, and it was pointed right in our faces the whole way. And it didn't help that Usiku collapsed again about ten minutes into the journey, forcing me to once again bear an extra sixty pounds on my already aching back. Needless to say, the sight of the fuzzy protrusion finally sliding into focus was the best thing I'd seen the whole day.

As it turned out, the lump I'd seen on the horizon wasn't an ill-tempered pachyderm, but a small cluster of rock formations that surrounded a secluded watering hole. The tops of the stone monoliths jutted out slightly, forming several cramped indentations that looked like perfect places to make like the log we had used to cross the river and sleep.

As we entered the clearing in front of the watering hole, the other cubs made a beeline for the sheltering rocks scattered around us, and within seconds they were all fast asleep. I shook my head and forced myself to keep walking. First, I had to take care of Usiku. Then I could rest.

With a quiet groan, I crouched down and let the black cub slide off my back for the umpteenth time. Gods, my back was killing me! I stretched as best I could and grimaced as I heard my spine literally crack. How old was I again?

_You're only as old as you feel_, I thought as I straightened out again. _And right now, I feel about a hundred and twenty eight._

I nudged Usiku a little closer to the lake's edge and splashed a bit of water on his hurt leg. With a painful swallow I realized how dry my throat was, and without hesitating I leaned down and lapped up a few mouthfuls, the cold touch of the water against my nose sending a shiver crawling all the way down to my tail. Well, at least I was awake now. Usiku, though, was still dead to the world, and his leg still needed a lot of work. With a sigh, I shook my muzzle dry and sat down. I only knew a little bit about how to treat wounds like this, but it would have to do. Assuming, of course, that I could even remember it…

* * *

**ELEVEN MONTHS EARLIER**

"So who're we goin' to see again?"

My dad smiled. If he was getting tired of my endless questions, he didn't show it.

"We're going to see Rafiki, the old shaman that lives in the big baobab tree to the east," he replied. "He's a good friend of mine, and I thought you'd like to meet him."

I wrinkled my nose in confusion. "What's a shaman?"

"The shaman is our link to the Great Kings of the Past. Through Rafiki, I can ask our ancestors anything I want, and they'll answer." My dad's smile got a little bigger. "If they feel like it."

"Does he do anything else? Like beat up bad guys and stuff?"

"No, he doesn't help us like that. He's also a healer, which means he helps other creatures that are sick or hurt."

I was a bit disappointed that this friend wasn't much of a fighter, but being able to heal people sounded just as cool. "Is he gonna heal anybody today?" I asked excitedly.

"I don't know," my dad answered. "Maybe, if we're lucky."

Almost a minute passed before I could think of another question. "Dad, is Rafiki a good shaman?"

"I would think he is. After all, he's been doing it since before you were born. Since before I was born, actually."

My eyes went wide. "Wow…" I whispered in awe. "He must be, like, a hundred years old!"

My dad laughed warmly at my amazement, and I grinned as his deep booming chuckle washed over me. I loved it when my dad laughed like that. That was my laugh, the one that only I could squeeze out of him. Everyone else just got a normal laugh, but mine was special, because it was just for me.

"Not quite, Simba," he said merrily. "At least, he certainly doesn't act a hundred."

I cocked my head to one side, confused once again. "What d'you mean?"

My dad sighed and looked thoughtful for a moment, as if he were trying to find the right words. I guess he found the right words, though, because after a few seconds he went ahead and said them.

"Rafiki is a good friend, but he's a little…eccentric," he said, adopting a serious tone. "When you first meet him, he might seem a little strange to you. But remember that he's also very wise, Simba, and knows more about this land and those that live in it than you or I could ever hope to learn." I didn't know what "eccentric" meant, but it didn't sound too bad. Besides, Rafiki was my dad's friend. How bad could he be?

"I'll remember," I said confidently. "I promise."

I think that was the first time I ever lied to my dad, though it wasn't on purpose. I told him that I would remember what he said about Rafiki being wise, but by the time five minutes had passed in our visit with the shaman, my pledge might as well have never even existed for all I remembered it. But my dad lied to me too, because he hadn't told me what "eccentric" really meant. He hadn't told me that the big long word that seemed so innocent was just a fancy way of saying "absolutely stark-raving nuts." And if there was one word that described Rafiki, it was definitely "eccentric".

I spent most of the visit with Rafiki huddled in a corner behind my dad, where I watched the colorful monkey flit in between the thick branches of his tree. He was constantly running his long bony fingers through an endless mess of woven strings with pieces of carved wood tied to them and muttering nonsense to no one in particular, and there was no rhyme or reason to his antics that I could see. My dad just sat there and smiled, but I was thoroughly unnerved by the spectacle before me. So far, Rafiki didn't seem wise at all. He just seemed crazy. And I didn't like it one bit.

"Dad?" I whispered. "What's he doing?"

"Who knows?" he replied with a deep chuckle. "Why don't you ask him?"

"Ask Rafiki what?" Rafiki said suddenly as he gripped a branch above my head with his back feet and swung down to face me, his upside-down face literally an inch away from mine.

I yelled in surprise and tried to back away, only to have my dad's paw gently push me forward again. I wrapped my tail around myself and stared down at the bark between my feet.

"Don't be shy, Simba," my father said. "Go on and ask."

I looked up slowly and faced Rafiki again, his inverted face lit up by a warm smile. I grinned hesitantly and felt a little better about the strange monkey.

"I was just…wondering what you were doing a minute ago, Mr. Rafiki…sir…" I managed to mumble.

Rafiki's grin grew wider, and he brayed out a high-pitched cackle that seemed just as unhinged as the rest of him. "Don't wonder, boy!" he shouted. "Let Rafiki show you!"

In one deft move, Rafiki released his grip on the branch and landed on his hands, flipping back into an upright position with ease. Before I knew it, he had swept me up in the crook of his arm and leapt up onto another thinner branch, his grip surprisingly strong.

"I am speaking with de Great Spirits, my boy," he said in a hushed tone. "And de Great Spirits speak to Rafiki."

With a yank of his hand, he turned my head upwards so I faced the canopy and pressed his head close to mine. "Can you hear dem?" he whispered, spreading out his free arm and wiggling his fingers.

"Uh…no?" I replied nervously.

"'Course ya can't!" he shouted into my ear, making me jump again. "Only Rafiki can hear the Great Spirits, silly boy!" With another hair-raising cackle, he dove down through the leaves and grabbed a branch I hadn't even seen with his spare hand. For a moment, the world flipped on its end, and then Rafiki completed his flip and touched down on the narrow bough, his thumbed feet sliding effortlessly along the smooth bark. Finally, the dizzying ride ended as Rafiki skidded to a halt in the center of the trunk where my father sat with his bottom lip clamped in his jaws, doing his best not to laugh and failing miserably at it. I stumbled out of Rafiki's grip with a tiny moan, slightly nauseous and absolutely terrified.

As I dizzily tottered over to my dad and leaned hard into his side, Rafiki grinned and shrugged at my father. "A bit skittish, isn't he, Mufasa?" he said, glancing back down at me with a merry twinkle in his eyes.

"I can't say I'm surprised," my father replied warmly, reaching back and wrapping a giant forepaw around me. "You remember when I first met you?"

The twinkle in the monkey's eyes shined even brighter. "Of course Rafiki remembers!" he shouted with a sly grin. "And I got de scar to prove it!" With that, Rafiki held out his right arm and pointed to an almost invisible white line snaking along the wrinkled skin, the same lighthearted smile still spread wide on his face.

For the first time in my life, I saw a look of embarrassment cross my dad's face. "Well, you startled me…" he mumbled. "I've apologized at least a dozen times…"

Rafiki cackled again. "Rafiki lives wit' lions for twenty years and 'as only one cub scratch to show for it…and you say you're sorry?" he said with a shake of his head. "Who is crazy again?"

Before my father got a chance to answer Rafiki's question, someone else had already stolen the shaman's attention. "Rafiki!" a panicked high-pitched voice had called out. "Help!"

All three of us in the tree immediately ran to the edge of the platform atop the tree trunk and peeked over. Far below, a frightened-looking cheetah stood on her back legs, her front paws braced against the massive baobab. Her paws were stained red with blood, but she didn't look hurt at all. Where was the blood coming from?

"Please, you have to help him!" the big cat gasped. "I don't know how much longer he has!"

It wasn't until then that I noticed the limp yellow form stretched out behind the panicked feline. My stomach jumped and I swallowed hard as my eyes traced the gaping wound that extended from his hind leg almost to his chin and marred his bright golden pelt. It was a miracle the poor thing was still breathing.

_And she thinks this crazy monkey can help?, _I thought to myself. _What could he possibly do?_

I glanced up with a confused look at where my dad's head hung over mine, silently asking what was going on. But instead of answering my unspoken question, he just smiled again and jerked his head to his left, to where Rafiki was crouched with all four of his hands flat on the ground. I turned my head and stared, hardly believing what I saw next to me.

The hyperactive baboon that I'd only met a few moments before was gone. In his place stood a monkey that looked just like the one that had screamed in my ear and nearly made the antelope I had eaten for breakfast make a second appearance, but it couldn't possibly be the same guy. This baboon was standing perfectly still, one hand stroking a wispy white goatee hanging under two of the most serious eyes I had ever seen. Almost before I could comprehend this sudden transformation, Rafiki darted over to a small alcove that I hadn't noticed earlier, a long and sturdy-looking stick materializing in his palm. In a flash, he grabbed a few handfuls of nearly identical-looking herbs and threw them into a large tortoise shell, swirling the contents around with a single lean finger. Ten seconds later, the colorful mixture was bundled into a small sack made of tightly woven leaves and tied to the end of the stick, and Rafiki blew by us again, expertly sliding down the rough bark of the tree trunk and coming to an immediate halt over the injured cheetah.

"Looks like you're gonna get your wish, Simba," my dad whispered as Rafiki went to work. "Watch." He didn't need to tell me twice.

"Please, you have to…," the girl started to say before Rafiki's open palm flew up and stopped an inch in front of her nose. He didn't say a word, but the message was clear. The cheetah swallowed hard, nodded, and backed away. Rafiki never even looked up at her.

As my father and I watched in solemn silence, Rafiki's hands danced over the injured cheetah, the smooth pads on the tips of his fingers barely brushing the stomach-churning gash on the creature's side. Even at such a light touch, the cheetah squirmed and moaned in pain, and the blue baboon instantly jerked his hand back so that it hovered just above the stain of red on yellow that stuck out like a sore paw toe. The big cat's friend (probably his mate) stood by the whole time, her claws drumming out a nervous beat on the ground. After a second of hesitation, Rafiki nodded ever so slightly and reached into the bag of herbs he had taken down from the tree, pinching out a clump of green that seemed much too small for the awful tear in the cheetah's pelt. With a few jerks of his hand, the clump dissolved into a cloud of dust that slowly settled onto the cheetah's cut, completely coating it with a thin layer of powder.

Almost instantly, the tension went out of the cheetah's shoulders, and he sighed heavily. A look of confusion briefly flitted across the big cat's face before relief pushed it away. His pain was gone. Whatever it was that Rafiki had sprinkled on his wound had numbed it completely.

With a grin, the cheetah began to stand, but he flinched when he felt Rafiki grip the side of his neck without warning and gently push down. Another confused look passed over the cheetah's face as he turned around to face his savior.

"Stay," the blue monkey ordered in a voice that expected to be obeyed. "We're not finished yet."

The cheetah raised his eyebrows. I could tell he was the type that didn't like taking orders from anyone, let alone a reedy baboon that he could probably eat in one bite. But to my surprise, he laid back down and allowed Rafiki to continue his work. As the cheetah rested his head on the ground once more, Rafiki dug through his makeshift bag again, this time pulling out a clot of herbs twice as big as the previous one. He definitely wasn't finished yet.

The next fifteen minutes were a blur to me. Rafiki's hands moved so quickly that I could barely make out what was happening to the cheetah, and all of his herbs looked exactly the same from the top of the tree. Every so often, my dad would lean over and whisper what the shaman was doing, but none of the words he used made any sense. What made even less sense was how Rafiki finished his treatment, by taking a bunch of the same string that he used to hang up all the little wood ornaments in his tree and tying it to the end of a sharp fragment of bone that was hardly thicker than the string. Before I could think of what use his contraption could possibly have, he went ahead and showed me by stabbing it into the cheetah's side.

The numbing effects of the first herb hadn't worn off yet, so the cheetah didn't cry out in pain. But his angry snarl made it very clear that he didn't appreciate having sharp objects shoved through his already tender skin, even if he couldn't feel it. Rafiki didn't even blink at the sound of the cheetah's anger. More importantly, he didn't stop moving, which allowed both the wounded cheetah and I to see what he was really doing.

"Stitching," my dad muttered into my ear. Yet another foreign term that had no meaning to me. Was he making these words up?

Despite not being able to understand my dad's descriptions of Rafiki's healing, the results of the shaman's handiwork were plain to see. As Rafiki worked the bone in and out of the wound in a steady pattern down the cheetah's side, the formerly gaping cut began to shrink in size, until by the time the "eccentric" monkey gave one final yank on the string and tied it off, the wound was an almost invisible red line broken by dozens of even smaller brown ones. "Stitches", according to my father. Yeah, he was definitely making those words up.

Once Rafiki was done with his "stitching", he rooted around in his bag one last time, pulling out an almost transparent strip of wood that curled at both ends. After smoothing it out on the ground a bit, the weary-looking monkey smeared something sticky on the curly parts and plastered it over the cheetah's wound, throwing a couple more flakes of herb inside the bandage for good measure. Then it was done. In less than half an hour, Rafiki had brought the cheetah back from death's door. And I had seen the whole thing. I knew exactly what he had done…

* * *

**PRESENT DAY**

But how the hell was I supposed to repeat that now?

Usiku shifted slightly next to me, his face still screwed up in pain even in his half-conscious state. I swallowed hard and opened my eyes as wide as they would go, trying to avoid giving in to the lead threatening to drip down from my brain and pool up in my legs. Five minutes. I'd be done in five minutes, and then we could all go to sleep. Perfect.

The first thing Rafiki had done with the cheetah was numb his cut with some herbs. The problem was, I didn't have any idea what herbs he had used, and even if I did I wouldn't have been able to find any in the middle of the grasslands. And even if I had managed to find the herbs, it was the middle of the night and I was struggling to keep my eyes open just sitting by the waterhole.

_Okay,_ I thought as I bit back my frustration. _We'll just skip that part._

The next thing he had done was "disinfect" the wound (as my dad had put it) with another clump of mystery herbs. At some point after we left the tree, I had figured out that "disinfecting" meant the same thing as cleaning it out. Now that, I could do.

As gently as I could, I slid Usiku closer to the water until the larger ripples were bouncing off his paw toes. The first few splashes of water didn't do much in the way of washing away the grime that had accumulated on the black cub's scratch, but it did wake him up again.

"Where are we?" he mumbled, still groggy with pain.

"We're safe," I replied distantly, my gaze still focused on the still dirty red slash running down his foreleg. "This isn't working," I continued, muttering to myself. I needed something a little more…drastic.

I needed more water.

"Usiku, I'm gonna try something," I said quickly as I nudged him forward a little more. "This is probably gonna hurt."

"What's gonna-" Usiku started to say before I rolled him onto his stomach and dunked his whole foreleg in the water. I probably shouldn't repeat what he said after that.

"Sorry," I muttered, trying to stare through the disturbed surface of the water and see whether his scratch was getting any cleaner. Usiku didn't reply, mainly because his teeth were clenched so hard I could see every muscle on his neck rippling through his skin. After five seconds, I pulled his leg back out and examined the wound again, trying to ignore the various comments Usiku was making about my relationship with my mother.

The water seemed to have done its job well enough. Now his cut was bright red in color instead of a gritty blackish shade, though I wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing. At least all the dirt was gone. The pain, meanwhile, was apparently still there in full force.

"What the hell was that?" Usiku growled, half in anger and half in agony.

"It needed to be cleaned out," I replied defensively. "How do you feel now?"

"Like you shoved my leg into a freaking lake!" he shot back with a glare.

"Well, next time I'll just leave all that crap in there!" I shouted back, suddenly furious. "Is that what you want?"

Usiku seemed a little taken aback at my harsh response, and for once he didn't have a snappy comeback. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, making the mistake of closing my eyes for a few seconds and nearly falling asleep where I was sitting. Why was I so angry with him? He hadn't done anything wrong.

_Just forget about it, _I ordered myself silently. _What did Rafiki do next?_

I tried to flash back through the memory from so long ago, but all the images from that day kept swirling around and meshing together. Rafiki had used a dozen different herbs on the cheetah's wound, and I didn't have a clue in what order. And it wasn't like it even mattered! I didn't have any supplies. I didn't know a thing about healing. I was hopeless. No, worse than that: I was useless.

_Useless._

A familiar sting rose up in my throat, accompanied by an identical one behind both of my eyelids. The night was cold, but my face was burning hot. _Useless._

"Simba?" Usiku asked quietly. "You all right, man?"

"Yeah," I choked out as my throat tightened up even more. "I'm fine."

I brought a paw up to rub my eyes, but it didn't fall back down like it should have. Instead, it just stayed there, covering the whole top half of my face and feeling like it weighed a hundred tons. I didn't want Usiku to see me cry. I needed to be strong. I needed to be brave.

I needed sleep. But I couldn't give in to that yet. My pride needed me. Usiku needed me. And if I could get a grip on myself, I could still prove I wasn't useless. Nobody had to know how stressed I was, right?

"Simba?"

Except for Nala. Of course. The one cub I _didn't_ want to see me right now. And not even an hour ago, I thought I was lucky.

"Thought you'd be asleep," I said, forcing the words around the giant lump in my throat. "What are you doing up?"

Nala shrugged. "I thought you might like some help out here," she replied softly. "You look tired."

"Nah," I said with a shaky grin. "I'm fi-" Before I could finish my sentence, my smile widened until a jaw-cracking yawn finally escaped from the back of my throat, where I'd been holding it in for at least ten minutes. My eyes drooped for a few seconds before I could force them open again, and Nala didn't fail to take notice.

"I'll take care of Usiku," she said gently. "In the meantime, go get some sleep. You've earned it."

I shook my head slowly. "Can't. I'm the only one that knows how to help him."

Nala's eyes creased into a skeptical look. "Says who?"

Despite how heavy my eyelids felt, those two words were still enough to make them snap open again. "You know how to heal him?" I asked, a strange spike of hope bubbling up from deep down in my stomach.

"My mom took me to see Rafiki a few times after you...after your dad died," she said, trailing off for a moment as she mentioned that terrible day. I had a feeling that she would've said "after you died" if she hadn't managed to stop herself. After an awkward moment of silence, she cleared her throat and continued, "I learned a lot of stuff when I was with him. Healing was one of them."

"So you'll stay out here and help me, then?" I said in an excited but still weary voice.

Nala rolled her eyes. "I'll stay out here and take care of him, but not with you."

My face fell so quickly I was surprised it didn't just fall off entirely. "Why not?"

"Because _you_ are going to bed," Nala finished, chuckling to herself about her joke. "You're exhausted."

"Well, you should be too," I countered, my stubborn dignity (or possibly insanity) still not willing to give in so easily. "Why aren't you tired?"

"I got some sleep earlier," she said quickly.

"When?"

"Is it really important?"

"If you want me to go to bed, yes."

For a moment, Nala was silent. It took me a second to realize that the strange look on her face was one of embarrassment. "I…might have fallen asleep in the tree for a minute…" she mumbled. "Or several minutes, actually."

I stared incredulously at the beige cub that was biting her lip awkwardly and looking everywhere but at me. I didn't know whether to roll my eyes or laugh.

"Please don't be mad," she begged as she looked me in the eyes again. "I know I was supposed to stay awake and watch for hyenas, but that branch was really comfy, and I guess I just...I'm sorry, I really am."

Finally, I decided on the latter option. "So we're running for our lives, hiding in a thorny tree with a thunderstorm rolling over our heads, and listening to the howls of a hundred bloodthirsty hyenas echo all around us…and you fell asleep?" I said, unable to keep a giddy grin from spreading across my face. "You're unbelievable."

Nala smiled too when she realized I wasn't angry. "Well, it was late, and I was tired, and…would you stop laughing?!"

I couldn't speak, but that was probably due to the fact that I couldn't breathe either. It was all I could do to stop rolling around long enough to shake my head.

"It's not funny!" she growled playfully, giving me a shove in the back for good measure. I could tell she didn't mean it, though, thanks to the ever-widening grin on her own face. "Stop it!"

With some effort, I managed to resist chuckling again and took a deep breath instead, letting it out with a contented sigh. Pretty soon, that sigh turned into another gigantic yawn that brought tears to my eyes. What the hell. Dignity's overrated anyway.

"Guess a little sleep couldn't hurt," I murmured.

"No, it couldn't," Usiku added as one corner of his mouth twitched up in a lopsided grin. "Not that I don't appreciate the effort, Simba, but I think I'd rather have a doctor that doesn't pass out on his patient's chest, if you don't mind."

I managed to mostly ignore Usiku's comment, though I couldn't help but smirk for a moment or two. "Thanks for helping out, Nala," I said as I rose to my feet and locked eyes with my savior, any attempt to subdue my adoration of the lioness standing before me crushed under overwhelming fatigue.

Nala tried to glare at me, but a thin smile still lingered on her lips. "Don't know why I should," she grumbled. "Jerk."

"You'll forgive me eventually," I said with a grin as I brushed past her and rubbed my head against hers, a lightning-quick purr bubbling out of my chest before I could stop it. As I padded over to an unoccupied rock, I glanced back out to where Nala was still standing by Usiku. She wasn't making any attempt to hide the smile on her face now.

"Good night," she whispered.

"Good night," I whispered back.

Without another word, I flopped over onto my side, instantly feeling like I was tied down to the ground with a hundred of Rafiki's ropes. I couldn't have moved even if I had wanted to, and that was perfectly all right with me. In the last moment before my eyelids slammed shut, Nala's face floated through my consciousness again, her smile giving off more warmth than the sun ever could. And then she was gone, buried under lead and sand and black.

I didn't mind. I knew she'd still be there when I woke up, waiting for me. Just like the sun. Just like my dad's laugh. Shining bright, true, and just for me.

* * *

Well, dangit. I was originally planning for this chapter to be much longer, but with an ending like that, what other options did I have? And I liked it too much to change it, so...whatever. On the plus side, I do finally have an exact number for how many chapters are left in Part 1. Chapter 14 will explain Usiku's nickname (and backstory while I'm at it...not sure if there'll be any more flashbacks, though), and Chapters 15 & 16 will conclude this section as well as fulfill loewe's wish completely, instead of the wimpy little nod I wrote here. Just think of the flashback as a bit of bonus footage.


	15. Chapter 14: The Outcast

Well, I've managed to make a liar out of myself. Again.

So you know how I said that I knew "exactly" how many chapters were left in Part 1 last chapter? Yeah, not so much. The second part of Chapter 14 is still being written (and it's already 6000 words and only about halfway done...), so I'm splitting it up into two parts, this being the first. The second part will be Chapter 15. After that, who the hell knows? I swear to God I'll eventually finish this part...eventually.

* * *

A/N: Okay, quick note about the plot…after reading over the earlier chapters and considering how I wanted some of the future chapters (this one included) to go, I realized that the ages of the cubs needed a little, shall we say…editing. So from now on, Simba is a year and a half old right now, instead of one year and three months. His equivalent human age (12-13 years old) is still the same, but his real age has been subjected to experimental genetic testing wrought by yours truly…and so now he's older. It's magic!

And I suppose it goes without saying that all of the other cubs' ages have been fast-forwarded three months as well. Because God forbid I just make one tiny change, right? If you're gonna screw with the plot, go for the throat, I say!

Ahem…moving on. Here's Chapter 14, in all its criminally short glory.

* * *

**Chapter 14: The Outcast**

**Simba**

I don't know why I was always such an early riser. Ever since I first opened my eyes as a baby, the brilliant shades of pink and gold stretching away from the rising sun would be the first thing to hit them each day. Not that I ever took the time to appreciate the sunrise, of course. That was another thing about me: I was always moving. To watch the day begin would've meant having to sit still somewhere, which would've meant having to stop moving. And that wasn't an option. I had things to do. Important things, like exploring every inch of the land within sight of Pride Rock and trying (and mostly failing) to out-wrestle Nala and bugging the living heck out of everybody else in the den. That was me nine months ago.

And then my dad died and I moved into the river caves, and all of that went away in the blink of an eye. For the first time in my life, I had to cope with not only losing my biggest role model and best friend in the world (even more than Nala), but also being, for the most part, completely and totally alone. There was no one to play with me, no one to growl and swipe at me when I stepped on their tail, no one to smile when I did something good or yell at me when I did something bad. In my first few weeks of exile, I would talk to anything and everything that came near me: a grasshopper, a tree, the breeze. More and more words would fly out of my mouth, and they would mean less and less with each passing second. Every conversation always ended the same way: I would talk and talk and my voice would get louder and faster and more frantic as the blazing hot grip of panic tightened around my chest, until finally I would just fall over somewhere, my face wet with tears and my ears ringing with absolutely deafening silence. No one ever said anything back, because no one was ever there. Because I was always and forevermore alone.

Eventually, I got sick of it. Sick of never being able to sleep through a whole night, sick of the constant worried glances from Tama when he thought I wasn't looking, but most of all, sick of being so dependent on something I couldn't have. You're going to be living out in the caves for the rest of your life, I told myself…might as well start getting used to the idea. So I gradually started talking less and less, regressing from a loud brash voice to a calm monotone to an almost imperceptible mutter. After two weeks, I was hardly speaking at all save for when Tama would come to see me, and even then I was still a hundred times more reserved than I had ever been at Pride Rock. When he was gone, I was just as silent as the grasslands that surrounded me. By the time I passed the nine-month anniversary of my exile, not a single word would escape my lips between Tama's visits. And I was happy. Or at least, that's what I told myself.

One thing that didn't change out in the savanna, though, were my sleeping habits. Even with all the changes in both my body and my personality, I was always awake to see the sunrise. And as my life slowed down, so did I. I began to see the sunrise for what it was: the beginning of a new day, full of promise and glittering brighter than the largest diamond ever spawned by the earth. Inevitably, the day would finish its dramatic arrival and evolve into the same dreary pattern of hunt or be hunted, but for five minutes every morning, I had hope. Hope that maybe one day I could go back home. Hope that maybe one day I could see Nala again, and tell her how I really felt about her. Hope that maybe "one day" would be today.

Maybe that was why I always woke up so early. I can't really say for sure. What I can say for sure, though, is that hope was definitely _not _the reason I was awake at the crack of dawn the morning after our escape from the hyenas. That, I just can't explain at all.

For a while, I just lied there under the outcropping, my paws over my eyes and my brain still numb with sleep. I wanted to go back to sleep. I needed to go back to sleep. No one would care if I went back to sleep. So, naturally, I got up and padded out to the waterhole to check on Nala and Usiku, because I knew I had to. Because that was what the king would do. And Aiheu knew I just couldn't wait to be king.

A thick fog had rolled in during the night, and everything around me was blanketed with an unbroken mass of gray that blocked my view of the watering hole even from a few feet away. I fully expected to see both of the cubs fast asleep at the water's edge when they finally slid into view, so needless to say I was pretty shocked when I finally saw Nala wearily slouched by Usiku's motionless side, her ears drooping but her eyes wide open. Her ears perked up a little bit as I came into view, but fell flat again just as quickly as she turned away and yawned loudly, a flash of embarrassment creeping through her eyes once her jaws slammed shut again.

"Have you been awake this whole time?" I asked incredulously, my surprise growing even more when Nala nodded silently. "Why didn't you come get me when you got tired?" I continued worriedly. "I would've taken over for a while if you wanted some sleep."

Nala smiled faintly. "You looked so peaceful…I didn't want to wake you up."

I returned her smile and nudged her head back towards the same outcropping I had just left. "Well, I'm awake now," I replied softly. "Go to bed. You don't need to stay out here just for me."

Nala's smile widened a bit, in my mind replacing the obscured sunrise. "I never said anything about staying out here for you," she teased as she got to her feet. "When someone tells me to go to bed, I listen…unlike some lions I could mention."

"Why, because you're not as tough as me?" I shot back with another grin.

"Because I'm not as stubborn as you," she countered smoothly. "Or as crazy."

I shrugged. "Can't argue with that."

Nala's eyes rolled up towards the shrouded sky before settling on me again. "No, I can't," she whispered as she gently and playfully cuffed her paw against my nose, forcing my head to turn and face the just barely visible outcropping. A second later, another flash of warmth brushed across my muzzle: her tail. This time, I knew she had done it on purpose.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, the fact that I was supposed to be taking care of Usiku was tapping its claws and waiting impatiently for me to remember it, but as Nala faded more and more into the hazy distance that fact got easier and easier to ignore. I knew I had responsibilities, but for a few seconds all I wanted to do, all I could even think about doing, was turning on my heel and following Nala back over to the overhang. I probably would've done it too, had my neglected responsibility not spoken up at that very moment.

"She's a hell of a girl," Usiku said suddenly in a surprisingly genial tone.

I blinked and turned back around to face the still prone cub, hoping he hadn't realized what had really been on my mind a moment before. Knowing Usiku, he probably had.

"Yeah, she is," I replied a little awkwardly, part of my brain still curled up next to Nala in my fantasy world where I was just a regular cub, one that didn't have a pride to worry about and wasn't running for his life and sure as hell wasn't supposed to be king. "How does your leg feel?"

The dark cub shrugged nonchalantly. "Could be worse," he answered. "Nala said it wasn't as deep as it looked, so as long as I stay off it for a bit the only permanent damage'll be a wicked-lookin' scar."

"Well, as long as you don't go naming yourself after it, I'm okay with that," I said with a relieved chuckle. The simple knowledge that Usiku would be all right seemed to take a huge load off my back the instant it registered in my brain. Of course, several tons worth of other worries were still strapped nice and tight around my spine, but one stone off the pile was better than nothing.

Usiku grinned at my comment, and for the first time since I'd met him his expression seemed completely innocent and genuine, like he had been holding something back before. Which, knowing Usiku, he probably had.

"Fair enough," he sighed. "Thanks for having my back out there last night."

"Thanks for having mine," I muttered gratefully. My gaze drifted back down to his hurt leg as I remembered how he had gotten that injury in the first place. Nala had obviously done a far better job cleaning it out than I had, but the lingering scratch still looked incredibly painful. And he had received it by taking a hit meant for me. And hours after the fact, I still had no idea why he'd done it.

"It's not your fault I'm hurt," Usiku said suddenly, once again figuring out what I was thinking almost before I did. "Hell, if it's anyone's fault, it's mine for jumping in front of you."

I sighed quietly and flicked my eyes back up at those of the dark cub in front of me. _Might as well just go ahead and say it_, I thought. _He'll figure it out pretty soon anyway._

"Why'd you do it?" I blurted out, the words spilling out before I had a chance to think them through. "All this time, I thought you hated me…and then you nearly died trying to protect me. Why?"

Usiku didn't reply for a long moment, instead just locking his faded green eyes on mine and giving me his signature look that seemed to be silently daring me to turn away. To me, it almost seemed like he was deciding whether he even wanted to answer at all, whether he was willing to allow me through the impassable wall of ice glazing over those olive orbs. Had I bitten off more than I could chew?

"You're half right," he said quietly, speaking without warning. "That first day at the caves, I didn't know who the hell you thought you were. I thought you'd be the same cocky, clueless cub I remembered." He trailed off for the briefest of seconds before continuing, an almost regretful air cracking his formerly expressionless voice. "I thought it'd be easy to hate you."

"Did you want to hate me?"

"I didn't want to hate anybody!" he snapped back a bit harshly. After a deep breath and another moment of silence, he continued in the same subdued manner he had spoken in before, his gaze sliding off into the impenetrable fog surrounding us. "You, all of us…the Pridelanders, I guess…I just saw all of this as a way out. And I loved it and hated it at the same time." Another grin split his face in half, but the sincerity I'd seen a moment before was gone again, hidden once more behind a black veil of something I wasn't sure if I wanted to identify. "I mean, here I was, putting my life and my sister's life into the paws of a guy I'd last seen with half a dozen burrs stickin' out of his ass 'cause he chased a butterfly straight into a ragweed patch. But it was still better than what I was leaving behind."

Usiku turned to look at me again. "I didn't know what to think. I wanted so bad to believe that you'd be able to help us. I wanted to believe that following Tama out to the caves was a good idea." The dark cub shook his head slowly, sadly. "And I just couldn't. I couldn't trust you, or any of the others. Not after…"

All of a sudden, Usiku's paws tensed up, and his lips went tight. Through his face was clear, the fleeting glimpse I caught of his eyes before they disappeared from view showed them so full of pain and, for some reason, anger that I didn't even mind his silence. Despite how little I knew about the most mysterious member of my pride, I knew well enough not to push a subject he didn't want to elaborate on. I was about to give up on the conversation entirely when he sucked in a deep breath and opened his eyes, whatever harrowing memories he harbored behind his hardened eyes already shunted back into the same dark hole he had imprisoned them in before.

"Anyway, when we were up in the tree last night, I started thinking about the last few days," he continued quickly, his forceful tone saying far more about how he was really feeling than the words embodying it. "I realized that, yeah, you weren't really all that sure of yourself; yeah, you're lucky you got us under control long enough to keep us from starving…but then I started thinking about how Tama and Nala and everybody else helped you out with all of that. And I started thinking about how much they trusted you, and how much you had done for them, and how much they had done for you. And I started thinking about how much I had done for you."

Usiku shrugged and shook his head once more, his disappointed look returning with a hint of fury broiling under it. "Nothing," he spat, his self-loathing tone coming as a complete shock to me. "I did nothing. I was just the same sarcastic asshole that I've always been. And if you ain't part of the solution…" Usiku trailed off once again and let a heavy, exasperated sigh push its way out of his lungs, while I sat motionless with my jaw hanging open. Never had it occurred to me that Usiku might have regretted some of his smart-alecky remarks. For what seemed like the millionth time in the last week, the uncomfortable sensation of not knowing what to say itched in my stomach.

"Look, don't beat yourself up about it," I said hesitantly, stumbling over my words. "I mean, that's just…how you are, right? Sure, sometimes it seems mean, but you don't really mean any of it…" I trailed off as an unpleasant possibility finally occurred to me. "Do you?"

"Does it even matter whether I mean it?" the dark cub growled. "Yeah, I'm like that all the time. And that's the problem: it's all the time. I haven't cut you an inch of slack the whole time I've known you."

Usiku looked me in the eyes one more time, his own muted but still piercing olive eyes filling mine entirely. "That's why I jumped in front of you. Because I realized that the only reason why it was so easy to think you were just a bumbling idiot was because I never gave you a chance to be anything else. Once I got over myself and opened my eyes for once, I saw I didn't have a thing to complain about. You got all of us out of Pride Rock without a scratch on anyone but you, you took a bunch of cubs who couldn't find their tails with all four paws and turned 'em into a hunting party, and the whole time we were in that forest last night I didn't see you panic once. And just in case that wasn't enough, you were the only one that followed me when I went back to get Jua. You know how many of those other cubs over there would've helped me?"

Usiku's glare was ablaze with emotion, but his voice was still powerfully clear. "None. And they had every right not to."

If Usiku noticed my confused look, his eyes didn't show it. In answering one of my questions, he had created a dozen more. And given the way his face had looked when he had clammed up earlier, I doubted I'd be getting answers to any of them. Still, I had to try.

"Why wouldn't they have helped you?" I asked, pushing my luck a bit. "Did something happen while I was gone?"

For another long moment, Usiku's lips were still. "I hung out with the wrong crowd, and I did some things I shouldn't have," he finally said in a dark tone that didn't seem to be directed at me. "It's all in the past now."

"Well, the past can still hurt…" I began, thinking back on a few of my own more painful experiences as Usiku sighed again.

"Y'know, there's something my dad always told me about the past," he said suddenly, cutting me off before I could finish my sentence. "You can either run from it…or you can learn from it. I learned from the past, so now…I just want to move on."

Usiku sighed again and gave me an apologetic grin. "It's not because I don't trust you enough to tell you, Simba. It's just…I want to forget about it. Just put it behind me and forget about it. So I really just don't want to talk about it right now. Maybe someday, if it ever becomes important, I'll tell you, but now…look, I figure you of all lions would understand about not wanting to talk about the past."

I blew out a quiet breath as Usiku fell silent once more, unable to hide my disappointment at his reluctance to let me through that particular barrier. He knew as well as I did that all I wanted to do was help, but for whatever reason Usiku had decided that wasn't enough for him. It'd probably be a while before I got used to Usiku's independent nature, but at least he had opened up a little bit. Emphasis on "little". In any case, he probably wasn't going to say another word if he didn't want to, and I didn't feel like forcing him. And besides, he had a point, as unwilling as I was to admit it. I did understand, more than he probably knew. His story would have to wait for another day.

"Guess you're right about that…" I said with a shrug. "Still, you ever want to talk about any of that…I'll listen."

For the second time in my life, I saw a genuine smile stretch across the dark cub's face. "I'll keep that in mind," he replied in a strangely happy voice.

"So we're cool now, right?" I asked one more time, an innocent grin of my own forming to match Usiku's.

The dark cub chuckled, and his smile widened. "We'll see," he answered playfully, his eyebrows arched and his eyes glowing.

As Usiku's pearly white teeth clashed against his almost black muzzle, I found myself wondering how many real friends he'd ever had. When I had known him nine months ago, he had seemed like the type of lion that neither wanted nor needed a whole lot of companionship…in other words, the polar opposite of me. I found myself wondering how much of that attitude was his real personality, and how much of it was just the personality I had assigned him. Silently, I resolved to get to know the dark cub a lot better in the coming months...but not now. Now, I wanted to get back under one of the outcroppings (a very specific one, actually…) and see how long the good folks in Neverland would let me hang around. And judging by the puffy lumps dangling under Usiku's eyes, I'm pretty sure he was thinking the same thing.

"Well, I'm beat," I announced. "You want me to help you get over to the rocks?"

"Nah, I can get there all right by myself," he replied confidently as he got to his feet, his tips of his paw toes on his right foreleg barely brushing the damp ground.

My eyebrows flew up as Usiku stood tall, seemingly unbothered by his injured limb. "You sure about that?"

Usiku flashed me what I assume was supposed to be a reassuring smile. "Yeah, I'm sure. It's what, all of fifteen feet, right?" His right leg began to move forward. "I'll be fi-"

Usiku's paw hit the ground, and for a moment I thought he really was going to strut all the way over to the rocks all by himself. But then his paw kept on going, jerkily sliding farther and farther back until its owner was bent over with his rear up in the air and his hurt leg folded up underneath him. If it hadn't been covered in nearly black fur, Usiku's face would've blended in perfectly with the grayish-white fog behind him.

"You want some help?" I dryly asked again.

"That'd be nice, thanks," Usiku whispered shakily through his teeth.

Biting back a smile, I padded around to Usiku's right side and nudged my shoulder up against his, slowly pulling him up and letting him lean on me as we shuffled forward. His right leg didn't touch the ground at all this time. Fifteen feet later, Usiku was gingerly laying himself down next to Jua, and I saw that my job was finally done.

"Just holler if you need anything, all right?" I told the still wincing cub. "Nala and I are under the next rock over."

Usiku nodded his head once and then let it fall between his paws, giving me my not-so-subtle cue to exit. I was more than happy to oblige.

I slipped away as quietly as I could and ducked under the overhang where I had spent the night, a familiar heaviness already tugging on my eyelids. Nala was curled up right in the middle of the small clearing underneath the rocky protrusion, her green eyes hidden behind unmoving lids and her tail wrapped around her paws. Still moving silently, I maneuvered around the cramped cavern until I was between Nala's motionless form and the wall behind her, where I gently lowered myself down onto the rocky floor. A hushed blend of a sigh and a groan escaped my lips as my belly came into contact with the cold stone, and I let myself tilt over to the right until I was on my side, my back against the cave wall and my paws curled up tight against my chest. A weary smile crossed my lips briefly as I finally gave in the pressing weight on my eyes and let them slam closed.

By the time I finally came to rest, my eyes were shut tight, so I can't tell you exactly what happened next. For one second, there was nothing touching me but freezing cold rock, and then all of a sudden I was warm again. My eyes flashed open to try and identify the source of the heat, but my view of the foggy watering hole was completely blocked by an immense beige wall. A moving, breathing, and incredibly warm beige wall.

I lifted my head up and saw Nala stretched out on her side in front of me, her paws spread out on the dusty floor and her head only a few inches from mine. She had rolled over as soon as I had hit the ground, and now she was so close that I could hear the faint rumble of her snores drifting up from her chest.

For a long moment, I was paralyzed. Did she mean to move that close? Was she awake, or still asleep? What was I supposed to do now?

_Put your leg around her,_ a tiny voice whispered as her snores began to die down a bit. It certainly seemed like that was what she wanted me to do. Or at least, that was what _I_ wanted to do. But what if I woke her up? Or even worse, what if she really _didn't_ want me to hold her like that? What if she moved away again? My paws stayed clamped by my side and I swallowed hard, risks and rewards tearing my brain in two.

Almost a minute ticked by, and my eyes were still stuck fast on Nala's back, hypnotized by the rise and fall of her chest. I wanted so badly to hold her, to snuggle up next to her and let her body lull me to sleep. But if she didn't want me to…maybe if I was really careful…

Slowly, my foreleg lifted up higher and higher, until it was hovering an inch above her motionless side. It stayed there for almost another full minute as I gradually worked up the courage to cross that last imaginary barrier. I had barely moved for several minutes, but my heart was thumping like I had just sprinted in from the forest. I swallowed again and bit my lip, my airborne paw starting to shake with both tiredness and trepidation.

_Just do it,_ I told myself.

Nala didn't move. Neither did I.

_Just do it._

She looked so innocent lying there…

_Just do it._

With a final sigh, her snores died away entirely.

_Just do it!_

I let my head drop to the ground. A second later, my foreleg moved down exactly one inch.

The instant my paw came into contact with Nala's gently rolling side, the rumble emanating from it returned, twice as loud as it had been before. In the same instant, she scooted back even farther, not stopping until her head bumped into my chin and her shoulder blades were digging into my chest. Her own forelegs slipped over mine and held it in place, her booming snores almost deafening me. As she nestled her head under my neck, her eyes still shut tight but her mouth turning up at the corners, I finally realized what that rumble really was. She wasn't snoring. She had never been snoring.

She was purring.

I wrapped my foreleg closer around her and grinned wider than I ever had before, a blissful feeling of warmth trickling down from the back of my neck and spreading through my entire body. Involuntarily, my chest started to vibrate in tune with Nala's, and she shifted even closer, a satisfied sigh stirring the thin layer of dirt in front of her nose. The faint brown cloud of dust floating over her radiant face was the last thing I saw. With one last elated sigh, I let myself drift off.

* * *

Wow...I just realized that this was the first chapter in a while I've done without any splits or perspective changes. Not sure if that's good or bad...or relevant at all. I'll just be shutting up now.

Anyway, please don't hate me for being so slow with updating. I think I've said before (or maybe that was a PM...) that school is the greatest boon to creativity on the planet. I'm doing my best, and I apologize if I get a little snippy with anyone that asks about it. I'll try to get the next chapter done as quick as I can. On the plus side, the next chapter is looking like it will be the longest one yet, so depending on how long your attention span is, that's a good thing, right?

*SIGH*...yeah, yeah, I'll get back to writing. Stupid AP US...


	16. Chapter 15: The Darkest Night Part 1

New stuff alert: this, quite obviously, is not all of Chapter 15. You see, I am one of those sad people that, despite being considered "gifted" by many well-educated counselors, never bothered to learn the meaning of the word "concise". What this means is, this single chapter is/will be long enough to require not just one, but perhaps two splits into separate, more manageable sections. Which is all the more ridiculous once you realize that the whole thing, from that first vague thought to the last period, is entirely ad-libbed. On the other hand, I did manage to come up with a semi-clever title for it, so that totally makes up for it.

* * *

**Chapter 15: The Darkest Night – Part 1**

**Usiku**

I don't know why I didn't tell him.

It wouldn't have been hard. Five more minutes by the watering hole, and he'd understand everything. I knew he'd be sympathetic; he'd proven that much just in the last few hours. So why in Aiheu's name did I choke up like a three-month old getting scolded by his mother and give him some crap about not wanting to talk about it?

Because I didn't want to talk about it. In fact, I didn't even want to remember it. But that's how memories are, I guess: the black stuff just floats straight to the top, like oil in water. And there ain't a thing you can do about it.

Simba was long gone by the time my eyes snapped open again. He probably thought I was asleep. He probably thought I had just skipped off into Dreamland with a clear conscience and a nice warm feeling of security bubbling in my chest. Just like all the other cubs, right?

Yeah, not so much.

I'll give him credit, though: he was almost half right. It did feel pretty good to just talk to someone like that, without having to wonder how long it would be before they went for my throat. Simba was probably the most trusting lion I'd ever met, though I guess in my world it didn't take much to earn that title. Still, for the first time in almost nine months, I felt like I had someone I could be completely honest with. And that meant a hell of a lot more than anyone knew, especially Simba.

Skipping off into Dreamland, meanwhile, wasn't something that came so easily. Even if I hadn't been taking a long and very unpleasant trip down good ol' memory lane, I wasn't going to sleep any time soon. I blame my mother. I mean, come on: you name your kid "night" and then expect him to just settle down and come along to bed like a good little cub? Yeah, and Uruzi's real friendly once you get to know her. I haven't been asleep before midnight since I was just a glint in my parents' eyes.

In any case, tonight wasn't a normal night. On a normal night, I'd just stare at the wall of the den for a while and wait for my brain to shut off. I could do that, because I knew that eventually it would actually shut off and let me sleep. At least, on a normal night it would. But like I said, tonight wasn't a normal night. Strictly speaking, it wasn't even night at all.

I lifted my head up and surveyed the watering hole, squinting through the murky morning fog and just barely catching a glimpse of the shore where I had spent the last six hours. For something that Simba had described so eloquently as "whatever that thing is", this didn't look like too bad a place to kick back for a couple days. Assuming, of course, that we could make it more than three feet through the impassable mist coating the whole clearing. So maybe not such a good call on our leader's part after all.

Unconsciously, I grit my teeth together. _You're doing it again_, I growled inside my head. _We went over this, Usiku: crazy as it seems, sometimes lions make mistakes. And, crazy as it seems, sometimes those mistakes aren't gonna kill you._

_And now I'm talking to myself. Great. How hard did I get hit again?_

I sighed wearily and squeezed my eyelids shut, trying to convince sleep to glue them shut. Ten seconds later, the watering hole snapped into focus again. It wasn't working. I just wasn't tired.

With another sigh, I ran the claws on my good foreleg through the messy jet-black tuft on top of my head that was supposed to pass as a mane. I hated that thing. Sure, having it be darker than a panther in a tar pit was nice, but I'd much rather have a mane that didn't blend in so well with the rest of my fur, so that it actually looked like a mane instead of just the world's worst hair day. It wasn't all that funny the first time Jino asked me when he'd missed the lightning strike that I'd used to style my "mane", so you can imagine how hilarious the next three hundred times were.

_Jino…_

I scrunched my eyes shut again, but it wasn't for lack of sleep this time. I'd been trying to forget him for almost a week, but it was like a part of Jino was still inside of me. Which, if you looked at it sideways, I guess there was. And there always would be. And the worst part of it all was that I couldn't even decide whether I even wanted to keep that part in there.

The last moments of our escape floated through my brain for the thousandth time in the last few hours, and just like the other nine hundred ninety-nine times I found myself mesmerized by Jino's face in the split second before the huge slab of rock rearranged it. I knew he deserved it. I knew he didn't care about me. And I knew I didn't care about him. I hated him.

So why did my heart jump into my throat when he finally disappeared for good?

My eyes flicked down to the almost pearly white figure stretched out next to me. If anything, Jua should've been enough to convince me that I didn't want anything to do with that psychopath. After what he did to her…

_After what _I_ did to her…_

"No…" I mumbled suddenly, my thoughts so powerful that they began to push out of my throat. "It's his fault…it's his fault…"

My gaze slid down a bit further, tracing down my sister's limp form, across her tiny pebble of a nose and her barely parted lips...

"He made me do it…it's his fault…"

Across her pale golden eyes hidden behind untroubled lids…

"It's not my fault…"

Across the crooked tip of her gently twitching ear…

"It's not…"

Across the thin red line curving all the way from the bottom of her ear back up to her nose.

It's so easy to blame someone else, isn't it? It can't be your fault: he told you to do it, you didn't know what you were doing, you were a different lion then. Excuses pile onto excuses. It's all good. Nothing wrong here. Just a little kid in way over his head.

And you tell yourself these things over and over again, and the whole time you know it's bullshit. Because it is your fault. Because it was always your fault.

Because it was all my fault.

* * *

**NINE MONTHS EARLIER**

"'Siku! Hey, 'Siku, wake up!"

_And there she is, right on time. "It'll be so much fun to be an older brother!" they said. Right, 'cause getting woken up at the crack at dawn every single dang morning is just _heavenly.

"C'mon, sleepyhead! Mommy said get up!"

I cracked one eye open and stared down my five-month old sister, my disgruntled glare having absolutely no effect on her. "And are you Mom?"

She giggled. "Nope…but you gotta listen to me anyway. Mommy said so."

I closed my eye again so she wouldn't see it roll upwards. "Five minutes," I mumbled. "Then I'll get up."

"Well, what d'you know, Star…" a deeper voice added suddenly. "He doesn't want to get up. I guess I'll just have to find someone else to go patrolling with me…"

In an instant I was on my feet, blinking away the last traces of sleep from my eyes as a tall lion with a dark brown pelt and even darker brown mane gazed down on me with a weird twinkle in his eyes. "I'm up," I gasped, swallowing back a yawn. "Don't leave without me, Dad!"

Dad raised his eyebrows. "Oh, no, don't get up on my behalf," he replied with a grin and a wink in my sister's direction. "I wouldn't _dream_ of disturbing your beauty sleep just to go stomp around the border…" Jua giggled again, and I glowered at her for another moment before turning back to face my dad.

"I don't mind!" I shouted excitedly. "Really!"

"Well, if you're sure…the frontier awaits, Blackheart."

"Dad…" I grumbled good-naturedly as I sat down again, my heart racing at the thought of what was to come. "You only called me that when I was a baby. I'm not a cub anymore. I'm ten months old."

Dad's eyebrows shot up again. "And that makes you…what, again?" he laughed as he ruffled the barely visible tuft of hair on my head with a big paw. "How's your mane comin' along there, Blackheart?"

"It was fine before you messed it up," I retorted as I squirmed away and smoothed down my messy fringe. "Can't you just call me Usiku like everyone else?"

"'Fraid not, Blackheart," my dad replied as he wrapped a forepaw around my back and squeezed me in next to him. "Because as long as you're still living with me, you'll always be my little cub."

"Fine," I mumbled into his fur, secretly happy to be so close to the strong brown lion that was my father. We teased each other all the time, but it was never serious. My dad loved me more than anything, and I loved him even more. And I guess the nickname wasn't so bad. Actually, as nicknames went, it was pretty cool.

"Well, well, well, Jabari…" a well-built tan lioness murmured in surprise as she appeared from behind us with Jua in tow. "Since when have you been so sentimental?"

"I am perfectly capable of being sentimental, 'Ruma," my dad shot back with a sly grin. "Remember our first date?"

"Mm-hmm…" Mom replied as she nuzzled him under his chin. "You bet I do…and you remember what I called you during that first date?"

"During which part? At the beginning, or later on…"

"Jabari!"

"Sorry," my dad said quickly. Glancing down at me and Jua, he added, "You didn't hear that. Either of you."

Jua and I both looked at each other, my little sister looking a lot more confused than me. "Sure…" I snickered as Dad's face split into a cheesy grin in an attempt to disarm Mom's withering stare. "Can we go now?"

"Sure thing, Blackheart," my dad replied as he gave Mom a quick peck on the muzzle, much to my disgust. "We'll be back before sunset, 'kay?"

"Oh, all right," she muttered with a tiny smile. She leaned down to me and gave me a quick lick on the cheek, ignoring my protesting growl. "Be careful, Usiku," she reminded me. "Do everything your father tells you to do. It's dangerous out there."

"Hey, don't worry, babe…we'll be fine," my dad said with another nuzzle. "Nothing's happened around here in ages…today won't be any different."

"If you say so…" she sighed. "I can't help but worry, though."

"Which is just one of the reasons I love you so much…" he muttered back as his lips brushed against hers.

_Great. They're kissing again. We're never getting out of here, are we?_

"Dad?" I announced impatiently.

"Right," he mumbled as he finally got to his feet and gave his mate one last lick. "Gotta go, hon. Partners, right?"

Mom smiled again, a little wistfully this time. "Have fun, you two."

Dad flashed Mom his trademark grin one more time, then turned to me. "All right, Blackheart," he said. "Let's blow this joint."

I grinned and eagerly popped onto my feet. It was about time we got moving.

"So where are we gonna patrol?" I asked as we neared the exit to the den.

"Wherever Mufasa tells us to," he replied with a shrug. "We'll see in a min-"

"_Comin' through!_"

Before my dad could finish his sentence, a yellow blur slammed in between us, slapping me across the muzzle with his tail and stumbling from the contact. As Dad and I stared in surprise, a pudgy lion cub that looked about my age picked himself up off the ground in front of us and grinned apologetically.

"Sorry, mister," he said sheepishly before his face lit up. "Hi, Usiku!"

I sighed quietly and tried to avoid rolling my eyes. "Hey, Simba," I muttered, my nose still smarting from the prince's recklessness.

"Where ya goin'?" he continued in an animated tone that almost cut off the end of my sentence.

"None of your…" I started to say before I saw the look on my dad's face. "Patrolling. Where are _you_ going?"

"I dunno…wherever Tama is, I guess," Simba replied with a shrug. "Have you seen him?"

"Not in the thirty seconds I've been awake, no," I snapped, already annoyed by Simba's grating optimism. How was it my responsibility to keep track of his friends?

"Oh…okay," he said matter-of-factly, completely unfazed by (or more likely completely oblivious to) my sarcasm. "See ya, then!"

Without another word, Simba took off again, in his haste almost taking out another pair of lionesses lounging near the bottom of the rocky steps leading up to the den. I blew out another big sigh and finally let my eyes drift up towards the fluffy white clouds overhead. You'd think slowing down would kill our future king the way he tore around the Pridelands, but then again the prince really only had two speeds: full, and asleep. And he didn't look very drowsy right now.

"That is one hyperactive child," my dad mused as Simba's yellow backside disappeared around the corner of Pride Rock. "One more conversation like that, and I'm gonna need another few hours of sleep."

"Oh, so my son's a bit tiring, eh, Jabari?"

Dad turned and met the eyes of the stocky yellow lion that had materialized beside him, his jesting smirk matching the king's amused look. "A bit, yeah," he replied without a trace of sarcasm. "And I suppose you enjoy winding him up and watching him go?"

Mufasa grinned, showing off his gleaming rows of sharp teeth. "A bit, yeah."

"Shoulda known. So where d'you want me today, your highness?"

At that, the larger lion's face dropped into a deadpan expression. "How many times have I asked you not to call me that?" the king asked without a lot of enthusiasm.

"However many times I've ignored you. So where am I going, again?"

Mufasa sighed. "You know, for someone that gets so tired listening to my son, you sure sound a lot like him."

"Call it an unfortunate coincidence. And I'll ask again…"

"Can you cover the west border? I'll head south, and Bavu and Jadi will take the north and east."

"Sure thing, your highness…we can handle that." My dad turned and winked at me. "Right, Blackheart?"

"Right!" I repeated without a second of hesitation, already eager to get to protecting the Pridelands.

The king's eyebrows arched. "Already following in your father's pawprints, Usiku?" he asked warmly.

"Yes, sir," I replied with my head held high. "And someday, I'll take his place out there."

Mufasa chuckled. "Well, you'll be learning from the best…" the king intoned as his eyes turned serious again and darted upward to connect with my father's. "And it's a good thing he's so _talented_, or he'd have been digging for scraps in the Outlands years ago."

"And don't I know it," Dad shot back as he playfully cuffed the king in the shoulder. "Time to go, Blackheart. Catch ya later, your majesty."

As I followed my dad out down the path leading out into the grasslands, I chanced a peek back at Mufasa. Instead of looking annoyed or angry, the muscular auburn-eyed lion just shook his head, a small smile playing across his lips.

"Do you always do that with the king?" I asked, my eyes still locked on the quickly fading monolith that we had just left.

"Always have, always will," Dad responded lightheartedly. "He tries to act all regal, but he's a big softie…right up until he sees a hyena. Then you'd best have at least an ocean between him and you."

"What, does he kill 'em?"

"Well, 'kill' kind of implies that there's something left afterwards…'rip into tiny, unrecognizable pieces' is a better way to put it."

My eyes went wide. "Whoa…" I whispered. "That's awesome!"

"Not so much for the hyenas…" my dad muttered before taking a deep breath and turning to face me. "Okay, playtime's over, Blackheart. From now on, you are an official member of the Pridelands border patrol. Your mission: keep out any rogues, hyenas, or any of the other various creepy-crawlies I'll elaborate on later. Your weapons: your claws, your teeth, and your…" Dad paused as his gaze drifted up to the mess of dark fur hanging over my eyes. "Okay, maybe not your roar just yet, but we'll work on that." Dad took another deep breath and bored his fiery and piercing eyes into mine. "Where was I?"

"Weapons."

"Right! Okay, your duty: give your heart, your body, your soul, and if necessary your life to defend King Mufasa and his territory. Your mission…did I say that already?"

"Yeah, you did," I answered, desperately trying to keep a straight face.

For a moment, Dad dropped his stony-faced façade. "Crap…um…" Dad stared at me for a moment, then rolled his eyes. "Ah, screw it. Listen up, skippy: you're my apprentice today. Today, you watch me. If any fighting's gonna be done, it's gonna be done by me and me alone."

"But…"

"Because your mother would spread me across most of the Pridelands if you even stubbed a toe, that's why. And besides, you're not gonna spend all day soaking up the sun while I keep your skinny tail safe. You're gonna be my extra eyes, ears, and nose, so if anything weird rattles through that fuzzy little head of yours, you tell me straightaway. Deal?"

"Deal. You wanna try that talk again?"

"Nope. Hate it. Worst part of the job. Now let's get moving."

With that, my dad spun around and disappeared into the fringe of grass bordering the path, not even bothering to see if I was coming. But then again, he knew as well as I did that I wouldn't miss this opportunity for the world. So with a grin that was half amusement over my dad's attempt at seriousness and half overwhelming excitement, I padded after my father to the western border of the Pridelands. I was gonna be the best eyes, ears, and nose he'd ever had. The second I even had a hunch that danger lied in wait around the next boulder, I'd tell him right away.

My mouth stayed shut for six hours.

Don't get me wrong, it was great to get to spend some time alone with my dad, especially doing something so grown-up. But it wouldn't have hurt to have seen one rogue in those six hours. Or one hyena. Or one other living thing besides my dad's gently swinging tail.

For the millionth time that day, I squinted up at the sun. It had been moving before, but now I was pretty sure it had just stopped entirely. It would hang there forever, halfway through its trip back under the horizon, and we would keep walking forever, and my fur would get blacker and blacker until I just burst into flame and burned into a tiny lion crisp. Come to think of it, that actually wouldn't be so bad. Because at least then something would actually freaking _happen_.

All of a sudden, my dad stopped on a dime and sat down in front of me, his unblinking gaze sweeping imposingly over the identical swaths of grass stretched out before him. With a deep, powerful sigh, he turned to face me.

"Well, this sucks," he said matter-of-factly.

I grinned and made sure my dad saw it. "No, it's fun, really…" I started to say before my dad's bright yellow eyes bored into mine.

"Blackheart, what have I told you about lying?"

"To not to unless Mom asks us where we've been."

"And is Mom here?"

"No…" I murmured, my face growing even warmer than the sun had been able to accomplish. "But I really do want to be out here with you…"

"I know you do," my dad replied with an understanding look on his face. "But I also know how gods-awful boring this must be for you. All I can say is that sometimes guard duty is like this. And eventually, once you get in a fight or two, you'll start to appreciate that boredom. But I can't expect you to enjoy it now."

"I don't mind," I countered in complete honesty. "I'll do anything as long as you're with me."

My dad laughed, and his sunny eyes lit up to match their counterpart hanging above our heads. "Ah, you little rascal," he grunted as he yanked me into a giant hug. "Get over here before you see me cry."

A giggle slipped out before my throat could hold it back, and I leaned hard into my dad and sighed, glad to just be out there with him. Before I knew it, the grasslands seemed enticing again. Maybe I didn't need something to happen after all. Maybe a nice, peaceful walk out with my dad was all I could ever ask for.

"Blackheart?" my dad mumbled, a wide grin still on his face.

"Mm-hmm?" I answered eagerly.

"Get behind me."

A little bit of the edge dripped out of my smile. "What d'you…"

"_Now_."

I looked up at my dad as he slowly pulled his foreleg away from me and brought it back under himself to stand. A smile was still on his face, but I could tell that it was forced now, and that it was fading quickly. His eyes were cold as ice.

Without wasting another second, I backed away until I was a few feet behind my suddenly menacing father. That was when I heard it: a faint rustling coming from behind the grass barrier blocking my view of anything farther away than a couple feet. Instantly, a horrible shiver shot down my spine. Something was finally going to happen. And now that the moment was here, I wasn't so sure if I wanted to it to be.

I peeked out around my father's flank and peered into the wall of green, desperate to see some trace of our mysterious adversary. But the wall was completely still and completely impenetrable. And the rustling was getting louder.

My dad's claws shot out so fast I barely even saw them move. But I sure saw them after they stopped moving, long and black and very, very sharp. I swallowed hard as my heart thudded frantically inside my chest, but a moment later I blinked just as forcefully and set my eyes. I wasn't going to fight. That didn't mean I had to be a coward.

The disorienting swish of the grass was almost deafening now. At the same time, my dad and I both sucked in a deep breath.

Then the wall snapped in two and spit out an absolutely massive lion with a dark yellow pelt and the largest paws I'd ever seen. Or at least, that was what I noticed about him. I was too scared to look up any farther. As the monster skidded to a halt a few feet in front of us, my gaze flicked down to my dad's own paws. They were so small next to the other lion's that for a moment I thought I was looking at my own paws as I tried to tackle my father back in the den. But we weren't in the den right now. We were in the middle of nowhere, about to be eaten alive by the biggest (and also the first) rogue I'd ever seen in my brief lifetime.

My dad's thick black claws filled my vision again. They were the only thing standing between us and lunch for the rogue. They were our only hope.

And then our only hope disappeared.

Because for some reason, Dad's claws slid back inside his paws just as quickly as they had first come out. And then, as my heart pounded and my eyes went wide, my dad's jaws parted. And instead of ripping into the rogue, he just blew out a heavy sigh.

"Goddamn it, Bavu!" he half-shouted, a blend of anger and relief flowing from his words. "You scared the hell out of us!"

Finally, I looked up at the other lion. It wasn't a rogue. It was a thick-looking lion with a coarse brown mane and a barrel chest, one that I recognized both from the den back home and from Mufasa's orders earlier in the day. He wouldn't hurt us. Probably.

"And what's the matter with you, anyway?" my dad continued sharply, his brow furrowed. "You look like you saw a ghost…" My dad trailed off for a moment as his eyes swept up and down his fellow guard's front "…and then ran ten miles to get away from it."

Dad was right. Bavu was panting so hard he couldn't even speak, and his face was contorted with a strange mix of fear and exhaustion. As Bavu stared and gulped down air like it was antelope meat to a starving lion, my dad glanced down at me for a second before looking at Bavu again, a hint of apprehension creeping into his eyes at the same time as a spark of realization. Suddenly, it occurred to me once again how big Bavu was. What could possibly scare him so bad to make him look like this?

"Bavu, what happened?" my dad asked in a calm, yet commanding voice that I hadn't even known he had. The yellow lion still didn't respond, and with nothing but patience Dad padded a bit closer and put his paw on Bavu's shoulder. "Bavu, I need you to talk to me. Did something get through the border?"

Bavu vigorously shook his head, still trying to get his breath back. "Have to…tell you something," he managed to spit out in between more gasps of air.

"What? What d'you have to tell me?"

Bavu's eye twitched, and I realized that he was staring at me. My dad got the hint long before I did.

"Usiku, stay here," he muttered quietly before he jerked his head and led the still trembling behemoth of a lion a bit farther into the grasslands. My stomach twisted as I heard Dad use my real name. He never used my real name unless I had screwed up pretty royally.

Or unless something was majorly wrong.

Through the snarl of reeds and grass, I could just barely see the outline of my dad's back as he sat down next to Bavu and motioned for him to do the same. In an instant, my mind was made up. Forget what my dad said; I had to know for myself what was really going on here.

As quietly as I could, I crept towards the edge of the narrow path that marked the border of the Pridelands. I could still hear my dad's voice, but all I could make out was a dull mutter, none of what he was actually saying. Bavu's response was no more understandable when it finally floated back to where I was standing, and I was about to inch a bit closer when my dad spoke up again, his words clear as day.

"What about Mufasa?"

Bavu's next sentence was too quiet for me to hear, but my dad's was crystal clear again, even louder than before.

"What d'you mean, he's _dead_?"

In an instant, all the air disappeared from my lungs. The king…was dead? The big friendly lion I had just talked to that morning was gone? Forever? But he was so strong…and he'd always been so nice to me. Nice to everyone, actually. Except hyenas. Dad said he hated hyenas. But he was really just a big softie, right?

And now he was dead.

Impossible. Bavu was lying. Or he was crazy. Or…something. The king couldn't be dead!

I sucked in a breath and crept closer, my front paws bending down a few straying blades of grass. I didn't want to know what was going on anymore; I _needed_ to know.

"How d'you know?" my dad demanded, his tone much harsher than before. "You had the north border today…how'd you know what was happening down south?"

Even from so far away, I could practically feel Bavu's panic radiating from his body. "You think I had something to do with this?!" he shouted, fear giving his voice a much higher pitch than I would've expected from the brawny lion. "You think I killed him?!"

"No, damn it, Bavu, just…calm down, all right?," my dad replied hastily. "I don't think any of this is your fault. I just…want to know who told you, okay? Can you tell me that?"

For a few seconds, agonizing silence. Then…

"Jadi…" Bavu finally mumbled. "Jadi told me…"

"And did he see what happened?"

"No…"

"Then who did?"

More silence. "Bavu, I need you to talk to me," my dad continued, his voice dropping back into the gentle tone he had used before. "I know this is a lot to take in right now, but I need…I need you to be strong, all right? Now who told Jadi about Mufasa?"

Someone took a deep breath and let it out slowly…Bavu, I guess. "Scar," he answered in a much steadier tone than before. "Scar told him, and then he came and told me to tell you. Something about a canyon…"

"Damn fool," Dad hissed. "What the hell was he doin' down there?"

I still couldn't see either of the two grownups' faces, but the change in Bavu's voice was enough to give me a pretty good idea of what his looked like. "The canyon…" he whispered slowly with an air of dawning horror. "He went down in the canyon…"

"Why, Bavu? Why'd he go down in the-"

"Simba…Simba was down there. And Mufasa went in to save him and…"

My heart jumped again, and I swallowed hard. Simba was there too? But Mufasa died in the canyon. And if Simba was down there with him…

"No…" my dad whispered so quietly I barely caught it.

"I don't…" Bavu stuttered. "I don't think he made it either."

My throat closed up, but I didn't care. I wasn't breathing anyway.

"I think…they both died in the gorge."

My back legs shuddered wildly for a moment and then just gave out entirely. I sat down hard, my eyes wide and a horrible numbness spreading through my chest. Simba was gone. They were both gone. Dead. That little cub I'd rolled my eyes at and tried to get away from was dead, a cold lifeless corpse right next to his father's. And the last time I had seen him, I had snapped at him.

Why? Why would he go down in the gorge all alone? Everyone knew how dangerous the canyon was. The only lions that ever went down there were either too crazy or too stupid to understand…

Or too messed up to care.

Was that it? Had my words cut him so deeply that he ran off to the canyon? No, that couldn't be it. He had never cared any other time, and he hadn't looked a bit upset when I blew him off that morning…more like unaware, or at worst indifferent. But what if he just hadn't shown it? What if I had really hurt him?

What if this was all my fault?

I shut my eyes tight and whimpered, my heart and my head pounding in rhythm. This was all way too much for me to take in at once. Especially alone. Before I knew it, I was crashing through the brush toward where I'd last heard my dad's voice, wasting even less time making the decision to make my presence felt than I had deciding to eavesdrop in the first place.

My dad didn't look a bit surprised when I burst into the clearing where he and Bavu had stopped. To tell the truth, I couldn't even place the emotion that was pouring out of his eyes and the rest of his face. I'd never seen my dad looking like that before, but at the moment I couldn't have cared less. I just wanted him to be there.

"Thought I told you to stay on the path…" he murmured, his brow creasing in concern for a split second before softening again.

"Dad…" I hiccuped, barely able to take in enough air to choke out a response. "Are they really…"

I swallowed hard and fell silent. Even if my world had been flipped upside down with just a few words, I wasn't going to freak out in front of my dad. He wasn't yelling and screaming and crying, so I wasn't going to do any of that either.

Dad didn't answer my question right away. First, he glanced back at Bavu, who I finally noticed was still sitting a couple feet away with a slightly less weary but no less panicked look than earlier slapped across his muzzle. Once my dad's and my twin stares zeroed in on him, his eyes widened again for a moment before he blinked a few times and shrugged. "Jadi said they w…" he started to say, but then he apparently thought better of whatever the end of his sentence was and clammed up again. My eyes narrowed, and for some reason a white-hot spike of anger shot through my whole body. He thought I couldn't take it because I wasn't old enough. Because I was just a little kid. _You don't need to know_, he'd say next, or some other garbage about how there was no reason for me to worry my innocent little head about the grownups. And I hated it. I hated being treated like I was made of glass just because I wasn't as big as them. And for about a second, I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to run at him and tackle him and demand to know what the heck was going on. Because I wasn't a little kid. I wasn't a baby. And no one was ever gonna tell me otherwise.

Luckily for Bavu, my dad cut in again just as my claws started to come out. "I don't know, Blackheart," he said with a deep sigh. "Jadi wouldn't lie about something like this, but _Scar_…I don't know."

My rage melted away just as quickly as it had come. My dad was the only lion that never ever talked down to me. He always acted like I was just as old and brave and strong as he was. Mufasa was like that too, but now he was dead. My dad was the only lion I had left to turn to. And he wasn't going to die. Not ever.

I wouldn't let it happen.

On a whim, I padded forward and nudged my head under my dad's foreleg, sitting down with a bump and leaning hard against his flank. Almost before I sat down all the way, his paw was clenched around me, his grip so tight that I couldn't have escaped (or moved) even if I had wanted to. Which I didn't.

Bavu stayed where he was as I slowly suffocated in my dad's strong grip, looking incredibly uncomfortable and a little bit confused. _Yeah, well, sentimental moments probably don't register too well in that big burly mind of his_, I thought, still more than a little peeved at him for refusing to fill me in. But then I saw the look in his eyes, and I realized what he was really thinking. He had a son too…Tani, or something like that. He was probably just as worried about him as my dad was about me. And at the same time, he didn't want to butt in on my moment with my own dad. Maybe I didn't have to rip his spleen out through his throat after all.

"Oh, get over here, ya big lug," my dad growled suddenly, his voice unusually scratchy and his free paw beckoning to the still awkward-looking larger lion. After a moment of hesitation, Bavu stood up and padded over to my dad's other side, where Dad's other foreleg quickly found its way around his fellow guard's back. For a long time, we all just sat there watching the orange horizon melt into twilight as the sun slipped farther and farther down into the darkening skyline. And at some point during that time, I realized what the look on my dad's face had been…still was, actually. I should've recognized it right away considering the circumstances, but then again I had never expected it to show up in my dad. I thought he was above that, that he was always brave and strong and tough as they come. But there it was, clear as day, the whole time the three of us stayed out in the grasslands and for most of the night after that.

Fear.

My dad was afraid. And of what, I didn't have the faintest clue.

* * *

I told you he was my favorite character. And I sure as heck ain't done with him yet. Read and review as always, and check back in a week or two for the continuation of the longest chapter in TLK fan fiction history. (Wonder if there's a plaque for that...)

Oh, and anyone that can identify the random movie reference in a review gets the virtual horns (they're awesome). And for those of you thinking of being smartasses, it is NOT from the Lion King.


	17. Chapter 15: The Darkest Night Part 2

Okay, I'm back. With an extremely long update that surprisingly still doesn't finish Chapter 15. Brilliant.

Anyway, I'm hoping you don't care. I will pass on a warning: this part of Chapter 15 is probably the darkest piece of writing I've ever had come out of my brain, and at this point appears to be the darkest part that will appear in this story. So sweet dreams, everyone!

* * *

**Chapter 15: The Darkest Night – Part 2**

**Usiku**

**ONE DAY LATER**

"Huruma?"

I don't know why that woke me up so quickly. Usually, I'm not a light sleeper in any sense of the word. When it comes to sleep, I'm like an elephant: hard to get going and even harder to stop. But to me, those three whispered syllables might as well have been ear-piercing shouts the way they echoed in my eardrums. Maybe it was because I was still jittery from what had happened that afternoon. Maybe it was because I just wasn't tired.

Or maybe it was because I had been waiting for my dad to speak up ever since we'd come back from the border.

That was another thing I never would've expected to flash through my dad's eyes: hate. But then there it was, the instant we had stepped back into the shadow of the massive monolith that the clouded sky had dyed ash gray. Standing at the promontory was a bony brown lion that I'd only seen a couple times before and barely even recognized, a limp and dirty-looking black mane clinging to his shoulders and an equally skinny (not to mention equally filthy) dark tan lioness right by his side.

"Who's that?" I had asked.

"Our new king," Dad practically spat back in a low grumble, never taking his eyes off the shadowy pair looming over us like two hungry vultures eyeing their next meal. It wasn't until then that I noticed the faded red scar cutting across our new king's face that began at his eyebrow and sliced across his eye to the bridge of his cheekbone. As the jagged pink streak filled my vision, a name floated through my mind: _Scar_. Scar had told Jadi about Mufasa. This must be him. As Dad and Bavu changed course and dissolved into the mass of lionesses gathered in the black silhouette of the jutting overhang, I hung back for a moment to try and eke out another detail or two about this stranger. He looked pretty comfortable up there on the promontory…like he'd been there hundreds of times before, when I knew he hadn't. And here was another thing: I'd been living at Pride Rock all my life, but I'd only seen this lion maybe twice in all those months. He definitely didn't live here with us…but didn't that mean he was a rogue? And if he was a rogue, why weren't the other lionesses chasing him off? And more importantly, why the heck was he about to be crowned king?

All of a sudden, the lion's scar twitched, and its owner stood tall. Without a word to the lioness next to him or to anyone else for that matter, he strutted back down to the den entrance and turned to face the crowd, the same passive yet confident expression still covering his face. Almost immediately, I hated him. This guy Scar, or whoever he really was, acted like he owned the place…which I guess he did now. But there was still a spring in his step that shouldn't have been there so soon after the king's death. And judging by the gleam in his eyes, he knew exactly what he looked like and didn't care one bit. The other lions and lionesses fell silent as their new leader gazed down at them from his perch, and a moment after that he started to speak.

I didn't really listen to what the king was saying. I already knew half the royal family had bit the big one just a few hours ago; I didn't need this jerk to remind me. Instead, I watched my dad's face, trying to figure out why it was crumpled into a dark scowl. Sure, the black-maned lion didn't look like the nicest grape in the bunch, but Dad's eyes were even colder than mine. We'd only been home for two minutes, and my dad already didn't see eye to eye with the new monarch. And I didn't have a clue why.

Suddenly, my father's face twisted even more, shock and disbelief joining the anger flowing out of his eyes. With an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach, I followed his gaze up to where the king had just finished his speech, my jaw dropping open just like my dad's once I saw what he was staring at. Hyenas of every shape and size were popping into view everywhere I looked, like a hundred thousand tiny little ants crawling out of their holes. But they weren't ants, were they? Because if they were ants, we could've wiped them away. We could've gotten rid of them and chased off Scar and made everything better again. But they weren't ants. They were hyenas; big, slobbering, cruel, psychotic killers that hated lions almost as much as we hated them. And Scar had just let them into the Pridelands.

The rest of the night and most of the next day passed in almost total silence. Hardly anyone in the pride said a word, and when they did it was in a frantic whisper, like they were afraid more hyenas would ooze out of the very ground beneath their feet and swarm over them if they so much as twitched. But Dad didn't even speak that way. His eyes were ablaze with hatred the whole time, but he never said a single word; not to Mom, not to Bavu, not even to me. And definitely not to the king.

I guess that was why I was so jumpy that night. Because my dad was finally talking again. And judging by the tone of his voice, he didn't want anyone else to know.

So of course, you know what that made me want to do.

As quietly as I could, I stood up and slunk over to where my mom was gently being shaken awake by Dad. For once, I was grateful that I had such dark fur. In the shadows of the midnight-cloaked den, I was invisible.

Mom blearily came to with a tiny groan, the whites of her eyes gleaming in the faint moonlight sneaking in through the den entrance. Without another word, my dad jerked his head back and crept off, skillfully dodging around the comatose lions in his way. Mom hesitated for a moment, then got up and followed him straight out of the den and around the corner. A few seconds later, I was outside too, still unseen under the cover of night.

The ground outside the den was still soaked through from the thunderstorm that had drenched the Pridelands just like the identical one the night before. Guess the big guys upstairs didn't like him any better than I did. But at least it had stopped raining at some point while I was asleep, which meant that for the first time in hours I could take two steps outside without having to grow gills. But what that also meant was that following my parents had just gotten a whole lot harder.

Since the sky had quit trying to drown us while we slept, the hyenas had moved from their caves around the back of Pride Rock out into the open air. Nearly every square foot of flat space between the grasslands and the den held at least one of the snoring black beasts, and I had a feeling they'd be even less understanding than the lions behind me if I accidentally stepped on their tail. And to make matters worse, my parents seemed to have disappeared into thin air. It was much too dark to be able to see their pawprints in the mud, and I couldn't catch even a whiff of their scents thanks to the quite literally breathtaking stench of the hyenas. Imagine, if you will, a dozen rotten eggs wrapped up inside a three-week-dead rabbit, dipped in bog water, and sprinkled with just a hint of garlic. Now let it sit out in the sun for another month and drop it into a skunk's den. Congratulations! You've got about half an idea of what the two hundred feet between me and the grasslands smelled like that night.

_Would it kill them to trip into a watering hole once a year?_, I moaned inside my head as I finally reached the fringe of the grasslands, my nostrils burning like I'd tripped face first into a wildfire and my eyes watering to rival the sky's efforts from earlier. Still panting from my trek across Pride Rock's front yard, I carefully pushed my way into the grass border, hoping to stumble across some trace of the two lions I had followed out here. Within seconds, I was hopelessly lost. I couldn't see even the peak of Pride Rock over the towering blades of grass twitching in the midnight breeze, and both my parents were still AWOL. And just in case that wasn't enough, it looked like it was about to rain again.

As I aimlessly wandered looking for any sign of the pair I had tailed earlier, I began to wonder why I was even awake at all. So Dad had been quiet for a while…so what? It'd been a crazy couple of days for everyone. He was probably just as nervous as everyone else. And then here I was, chasing a ghost I wasn't even sure existed. They probably just went for a walk. Heck, they were probably already back at Pride Rock, wondering where I'd vanished to.

Which meant they'd probably already woken up half the den panicking about where I'd vanished to.

"Idiot," I muttered, forgetting for a moment about trying to stay quiet. But then again, what was the point of being quiet if no one was there to hear you?

Well, as I discovered about a second later, there is a point to it. Namely, if someone _is_ there to hear you.

"_Who's there?_" a powerfully low voice hissed behind me as soon as the word left my lips, bringing me so close to jumping out of my skin that I wouldn't have been surprised if I'd grown a forked tongue in the process. I whipped around to face the sudden noise, instinctively backing away a bit. Whoever was back there didn't say another word, and for a long moment the whole world was silent.

Then the grass started rustling.

I didn't have time to panic. I didn't even have time to think. All I had time to do was half-jump, half-stumble into the reeds behind me and curl up into the smallest ball I could. Not even a second later, a massive dark figure crashed into the clearing in front of me, coming to a halt right where I had been standing a second before. The shadow sighed deeply, then inhaled, obviously trying to catch my scent. I guess Mom had cleaned me up pretty well that night, though, because he gave up a moment later, instead pricking his ears and standing stock still in the murky darkness. Almost instantly, his head swiveled around to where I was. With a horrible jolt of fear, I clapped a forepaw over my mouth and nose as quickly and quietly as I could, as I finally realized how hard (and more importantly, how loud) I was breathing. Once again, the clearing was silent. For one impossibly long, heart-stopping moment, the shadow was looking right at my hiding place.

And for one impossibly long, heart-stopping moment, I could've sworn he was looking right into my eyes.

"Who was it?" another voice whispered suddenly, almost making me jump again and give myself away. Somehow, I managed to stay completely still, though my heart was pounding so loud I knew the shadowy figure could hear it too. The shadow kept his gaze on my hiding spot for one more second, then finally he turned around and met the eyes of the new shadow sliding into view behind him. Feeling almost sick with relief, I let my breath slip out all at once, my eyes shut tight and my whole body shivering like a meerkat in a snowstorm.

"Nobody," the shadow replied to his partner. "We can talk here, 'Ruma."

_'Ruma?_

Slowly, my eyes cracked open again. That was my mom's name. And there was only one lion I knew who called her that. So who else could the first shadow be but…

"Talk about what, Jabari?" Mom shot back. "You don't make a peep the whole day, and _now _you want to talk? Out here, in the middle of the night?"

"We needed to be alone."

"For what? Jabari, would you please just tell me what's going on?"

The closer but somehow darker shadow didn't answer. _No wonder I couldn't recognize him_, I realized suddenly. _His fur's almost as dark as mine. We both blend in perfectly out here._

"Oh, gods above…" Mom swore suddenly. "This is about Scar, isn't it?"

"I don't trust him, Huruma."

"No, shit! You've hated him since you were a cub!"

"Did you see his face up there?" Dad snapped. "His brother just _died_, and he's up there grinning like a goddamn hyena!"

"Well, he's always wanted to be king…"

"Even if he had to kill the real king to do it?"

"Wha…" my mom sputtered. "You really think this is his fault? You really think Mufasa was _murdered_?"

"And Simba too. Don't forget Simba."

"Well, of course, him too!" Mom shot back with a huff. "Let's throw the nine-month-old cub into the conspiracy theory while we're at it!"

"Think about it, Huruma!" Dad replied almost as harshly. "Scar knew every little detail about what happened down there in the canyon, even how both of them died. He was there when it happened…so why didn't he stop it?"

"Maybe because it's a bit hard for one lion to single-handedly stop an entire stampede!" Mom answered loudly, her voice almost rising to a shout.

"Keep it down!" Dad hissed frantically. "You wanna get all the hyenas in on this too?"

Mom glared but lowered her voice back down to a whisper. "In on _what_? You being a head case?"

"Scar told Jadi that Mufasa fell when he was trying to climb up the cliff face," Dad continued, completely ignoring Mom's remark. "He was trying to escape."

"So?"

"So where was Simba?"

Mom didn't answer for a moment, and when she did, she sounded utterly baffled. "What?"

"Simba was his whole world, Huruma. He wouldn't have even thought about leaving that canyon unless he knew Simba was safe. So where was Simba when Mufasa fell?"

More silence from Mom. "Simba was alive when his dad started up that cliff," Dad concluded. "He had to be. So how did the prince die, then, if he was still in this world when Mufasa left it? Or maybe the better question is: how did the prince die if Scar was still there to save him?"

"He…he lied?" Mom finally whispered, more concerned than confused now. "But why?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Mom took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her shaking head barely visible in the dim twilight. "This doesn't prove anything, Jabari," she said without a lot of confidence. "Simba still could've…this could all just be a big coincidence…"

"Oh, sure, it could," Dad interrupted. "But here's another question: why was Simba even out there in the first place? He told Usiku and me he was looking for Tama…and Tama wasn't at the canyon, now, was he?"

"I…"

"And then of course, you have to wonder why _Scar_ was even out there in the first place."

"Well…"

"And I haven't even told you the juiciest bit of all…so I'm pacing around, trying to make sense of all this, and who should I hear but Sarafina talking to Nala? And as I'm hearing this, Nala comes out and says just the most fascinating thing."

"What…what did she say?"

Dad paused for effect, and I couldn't help rolling my eyes despite the grim nature of the subject at hand. If my dad wasn't the biggest actor in the pride, I was an albino. "Well, Nala said that the last time she saw Simba, he was with Scar," he finally said. "And that the last time she saw Simba, Scar was taking him away to see a special surprise…a surprise apparently set up by the king himself. Who, lest we forget, was on patrol at the time."

I don't think Mom was even breathing anymore. I sure as heck wasn't.

"And the next thing you know, they're all in the canyon," Dad murmured, his passionate inflection slipping into a mournful mutter. "And the next thing you know, Scar's the only one left."

Dad stood up and put his nose an inch away from Mom's. "Now tell me, Huruma…" he whispered in a strange voice that was somehow innocent and intimidating at the same time. "Does that sound like a coincidence to you?"

Mom flinched as Dad's last words echoed around the clearing, a tiny whimper sneaking out of her mouth. Instantly, Dad seemed to come to his senses and realize what he sounded like, and his shoulders sagged as Mom met his eyes again.

"Gods, what am I thinking?" he murmured. "I'm sorry I scared you, babe. I just…I don't know what I'm supposed to do right now, and then when you didn't believe me…"

"No, it's…it's fine," she replied, swallowing hard in the middle of her sentence. "I'm scared too."

"But you believe me now, right?"

"Don't think I have much of a choice, do I?" she admitted. "You're right, I guess. All that can't be just chance…"

Suddenly, Mom trailed off abruptly, as if something had just occurred to her. "And you're gonna do something about it, aren't you?" she added a moment later.

"We all are," Dad replied ominously. "That's why I needed to talk to you."

"Who's 'we'?"

"Me, Jadi, Bavu…all that's left of the guard."

"That's it? Just the three of you?"

"If everything goes to plan, that's all we'll need."

"And I'm supposed to ignore the fact you'll be outnumbered a hundred to one?"

"We've got that covered too. Jadi knows a guy…"

"Oh, all right. Four of you, then. _That oughta do it_!" Mom nearly screamed. She sounded mad as all get out, but I couldn't figure out why until I saw how badly her paws were shaking. It didn't take Dad long to pick up on that little tidbit either.

Without a word, he sat down next to Mom and slipped his paw over hers, her fiery glare burning out as soon as his toes curled around her still quivering leg. With a heavy sigh, she bit her lip and leaned into him, her eyes suddenly filling up with tears. She was even more terrified than I thought. As Dad's foreleg slid farther and farther up and around Mom's back, a tiny pang of guilt started gnawing at my insides. It didn't take a genius to figure out how well Mom was taking everything that had happened in the last couple days, especially after how bad Tama's mom had flipped out after he disappeared to Aiheu knows where yesterday. Everybody was on edge lately…though who wouldn't be, at a time like this? And in my nosiness, I had completely forgotten that. For the second time that night, I asked myself what I was even doing awake.

_Maybe I should leave…_, I told myself. But I didn't leave. Not just yet. Not before I knew exactly what my dad was planning for tomorrow. I needed to know he'd be safe just as much as Mom did, because that was another thing I hadn't realized before: behind it all, I was about to lose it too. And Dad talking about fighting an entire army pretty much by himself didn't make me feel any better.

"Jadi knows a guy a few miles north of here," Dad murmured suddenly, snapping me back to attention. "Says he's got a bone to pick with Scar too. Jadi has his word that he'll help us out tomorrow."

Mom looked up, confusion creasing her face. "How does he know Scar? He's never left the Pridelands…"

Dad sighed and glanced away for a moment before locking eyes with Mom again. "You remember when Scar ran off a couple months after Mufasa took the throne? After that fight with Zira?"

"Are you kidding? My ears are still ringing from that…"

"Well, he didn't just go into hiding. As far as Mufasa knows…" Dad paused and flinched, swallowing hard before going on. "Knew…as far as Mufasa knew, he jumped the border that same day. The next time anyone saw hide or hair of him was the day before Simba's presentation."

"So…he left? Why?"

"Who the hell knows…but now thanks to Jadi's friend, we at least know where he went. This guy…Busara, or whatever his name was, he says his pride ran into a skinny stick of a lion about a year ago. Called himself Taka and wouldn't say another word. They took him in for a while, let him wander with 'em…and then they kicked him out."

"Why? What'd he do?"

"He wouldn't tell us. Just said that if Scar was on the throne, he'd do whatever it took to make sure he didn't stay there. We took that as meaning he'd help us out with our contingency plan."

"Which is…?"

"Busara's pride'll cross over and prowl around the outskirts for a bit. Kill some gazelles, scratch up some trees…basically, just draw as much attention to themselves as possible. More importantly, they'll take out any hyena patrols they see, and we'll make sure word of it gets back to Pride Rock. If Scar's anything like I remember, he'll overreact and send out most of his army to stop 'em, which means the den'll be nice and open for us three to take care of Scar."

Mom swallowed hard. "You're gonna kill him?"

Dad shook his head, for the first time looking a bit unsure of himself. "I don't know, 'Ruma…if his army's gone, we might be able to convince him to take off again, but it's a snowflake's chance in hell that'll work. And I don't know of any other ways to overthrow a king."

"But you're just stooping down to his level then!"

"No, stooping down to his level is dropping a nine-month-old cub into the middle of a stampede and watching from the sidelines as he's trampled to death," Dad growled. "Stooping down to his level is killing your own brother that would never even _think_ about hurting you and then lying about it to every single one of his friends! Do you think I _want_ to kill him? Do you think I _like_ the whole kingdom going to hell on a rhino's back? Do you think…"

"_I don't want you to die too!_"

Both Dad and I stared, I from the shadows and him from an inch away. Twin streaks of moisture gleamed under Mom's eyelashes, curling around her muzzle and disappearing at the corner of her lips.

"I'm not gonna sit here and call you a liar again," she said, her voice wavering for the first time. "I know what Scar did, and I don't want that bastard to be king any more than you do. And I know that that's your life. You're the captain of the guard, you're supposed to protect the Pridelands, defend it from harm at any cost…I get it."

Her cheeks flashed as another tear slipped down the same path its brother had taken. "But you're _my_ life. You all are. You think you've got it all figured out, but all I can think of is something going wrong and me never seeing you again. And I can't…if anything happened to you or Jua or Usiku…"

I flinched as I heard my name slip out from between Mom's lips, and the little guilty monster chewing on the inside of my stomach immediately doubled its efforts. But what was I supposed to do? My paws might as well have been tied up in the grass.

"Don't do this," Mom begged. "I don't want to be like Sarabi…I'm not a queen, I'm not half as strong as her…" Mom's voice cracked again and dropped to a whisper. "I can't lose you."

Dad's foreleg tightened and pulled Mom closer, his paw gently rubbing her shoulder and his head finding its way on top of hers. At the same time, his eyes squeezed shut for a few seconds, and I could've sworn I saw a glistening trail spread out under his eye too. But his voice was still strong when he spoke again, just like I knew it would be.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said firmly. "If Busara doesn't do his job, or if anything at all goes wrong, we won't do it. Simple as that."

"It's not…" Mom hiccupped, her head jerking back and forth. "It doesn't even matter if you kill Scar. Once those hyenas come back, they'll figure out what happened and…

"No, they won't," Dad confidently interrupted. "Hyenas aren't like that. They don't plan. They don't think. They just kill. Kill and eat and destroy everything we've built up."

Dad's eyes narrowed, and his voice dropped to a growl. "They're animals, 'Ruma. And we're better than them."

Mom didn't answer at all this time. She just sighed and nestled her head farther under Dad's chin, her eyes shut tight and starting to leak tears again. As Dad held her close and whispered comfortingly in her ear, I silently got to my feet. I'd seen all I wanted to see. And then some.

As I padded away from the shadowy pair still hidden behind the layers of grass, I started thinking about what my dad had said. His plan sounded like a good one, but for some reason I didn't share his confidence about the hyenas. And the funny thing was, I wouldn't have batted an eye if he hadn't said "animals", if he hadn't been so completely sure that he was smarter than the hyenas. Because I knew that they weren't like us. I knew that the hyenas had never been nice to us, and that we had never returned the favor. That was how the world worked, my dad had said when I first asked him about hyenas a long time ago. We had beaten the hyenas because we were stronger, because they were weaker, and that was why we had Pride Rock. We lived in the Pridelands, and they lived in the Outlands. All the time. No exceptions. But now there was an exception. A big one. And it was all because of the new king.

I'd never even _seen_ a hyena before last night, actually. All I'd had to go on was Dad's word, which I had trusted unquestioningly. Lions were strong. Hyenas were cowards and murderers. Animals.

And then Scar let them into the Pridelands. And yeah, they were big and mean and smelly just like Dad had said. But they also talked just like us, and they had families just like us, and in every non-physical way I could think of they seemed just like us. And to me, that didn't seem very animal-like at all. I didn't know what to think, because everything they were was everything my dad said they weren't. I knew my dad wouldn't lie to me ever, not even about hyenas. And if he wasn't lying, that that meant he was telling the truth, right?

So how could the truth be wrong?

I stopped and looked around. I'd only been walking for thirty seconds, and I was already lost again. And as if that weren't enough, I was starting to get a headache from trying to figure out why the world had suddenly stopped making sense.

_But from the look of things, you'll have lots of time to figure that out_, I grumbled under my breath. _Because you're gonna be stuck out in the middle of nowhere for the rest of your life!_

Without warning, the grass started rustling again, just like it had when I first found my parents. I didn't run this time. Instead, I just stood there and waited to be found, not even caring about how much trouble I would get in. Because quite frankly, all I wanted to do at that point was get back inside the den pronto, and to heck with the consequences. Plus, getting found would make it that much easier to explain to my parents exactly what in Aiheu's name I was doing out of the den a hour past midnight. Or at least, it'd be that much easier to explain than just waltzing in the next morning when I finally found the stupid place myself.

Now I could see the grass start to shift in time with the rustles. I took a deep breath and gingerly sat down, acutely aware of how badly that end of me would hurt after Mom caught wind of where I had been.

The rustling of the grass completely filled my ears. My parents were close. I sighed again as it got louder, and louder, and louder…

And quieter…

_Wait a minute!_

"Hey!" I shouted as I jumped to my feet. "I'm right…"

But it was too late. They were gone. They had passed right by me. They had never seen me. And come to think of it, I had never even seen them.

"Damnit," I muttered, copying the word I had heard my dad use when he got mad. I didn't really know what it meant, but it felt like the right thing to say. Without another word, I took off towards where I had last heard the rustling noise. If they wouldn't take me back with them, then I'd just have to invite myself along for the ride. One way or another, I was getting back home.

I did my best to catch up with the far-off noise, but no matter how fast I ran they always stayed just out of my sight. Plus, it didn't help that I had to dodge around countless grass clumps that they could probably just step right over. As if I needed another reason why it stunk to be little.

Finally, I caught a glimpse of an immense black shape blocking out what few stars pricked through the clouds overhead. With the biggest relieved sigh I think has ever escaped my lips, I broke free of the grass and jogged into the shadow of Pride Rock. I had never been so happy to see the huge misshapen monolith in my whole life. My happiness was short-lived, though, since the first thing I saw when I looked up to the entrance of the den was a ropy tail disappearing into it. There went any last hopes I had of keeping my late-night trip a secret.

With more than a little apprehension, I carefully picked my way back across the field of hyenas, already running through my story. Maybe if I just said I had to go use the grass real bad, I would be able to sit down the next day. Or failing that, I could always go for the sob story. Just start blubbering on about how I couldn't find them and I was so worried about them…which I'm sure would be incredibly convincing coming from the cub that hadn't cried since he started eating meat.

_Maybe I'd better just stick with the grass plan…_, I decided as I reached the base of the promontory.

With one last gulp, I entered the den, my eyes slowly adjusting to the even dimmer light then what I'd encountered outside. I could see still well enough to not step on anyone's head, but I couldn't have picked out a face if my life depended on it. Good thing I knew where our spot in the den was.

"Mom?" I whispered as I finally reached the somewhat secluded corner, fully expecting her frantic rebuke at any second. But instead of my mother's flustered tone, a different voice rang out.

"'Siku?" Jua replied in a gravelly, sleep-heavy voice. "What're you doin'?"

"Nothing, Jua," I muttered back. "Go back to…"

Jua's head lifted up off her paws and she gave me what must have been a curious look. "What'sa matter?" she continued. "Why'd you stop talkin'?" When I didn't answer, she rolled onto her feet as if to get up and walk over to me, but something stopped her in her tracks. Probably the same thing that had stopped me.

"Where's Mommy?" she asked, looking from side to side and shifting a bit closer to me. "'Siku, where'd Mommy and Daddy go?"

I didn't answer. I hardly even heard her. All I could think of was the fact that, aside from me and Jua, our corner of the den was totally empty. My parents were still gone.

_But I just followed them in! _

I slowly shook my head, still ignoring Jua's increasingly worried look. For some reason, I just couldn't comprehend my parents not being there. I brushed past my little sister and stood right in the center of the tiny clearing, blindly hoping that my dad was just hidden in the dark or just a bit farther away. But no matter how hard I wished for something to fill the space in front of me, it stayed just as empty as the inside of Simba's head.

"'Siku?" Jua said, her voice starting to waver. "Where are they? Why aren't they here?" I jumped as she bumped her head into mine and nuzzled against me, her bottom lip starting to shake. "You're scaring me, 'Siku! Stop it!" I didn't answer. "_Stop it!_"

"I'm not doing anything!" I snapped. Gods, she wouldn't shut up! Couldn't she see I was trying to think?

Jua blinked and sniffled, her lip still quivering, and I managed to find my compassion again. Maybe I could freak out later. Right now, Jua needed me.

"Hey, everything's gonna be fine, all right?" I muttered as I turned towards her a bit and let her nuzzle against me. "Mom and Dad just…went for a walk, that's all."

_Yeah, they went for a walk, all right…_, I continued inside my head. _And they didn't bother to come back!_ As I thought that, a nagging feeling that I was missing something began to tug at my brain, but before I could figure out what it was I was interrupted once again by a familiar voice. Only this time, it actually managed to make me even more confused.

"What are you two doing up?" I heard someone ask behind me. Jua and I both whipped our heads around and saw the same thing: my dad gazing down at us with nothing but innocence, acting as if he'd been there all night. Right behind him was Mom, with the exact same clueless expression spread across her face.

"Mommy!" Jua exclaimed, completely forgetting about me in a heartbeat and bounding over to where my mom was standing. "Where were you? We were so scared!"

"_You_ were scared, Blackheart?" Dad commented with a chuckle and a glance in my direction. "Wouldn't have expected you to be so…you all right, Blackheart?"

I didn't answer, seeing as my jaw was hanging somewhere around my feet at the time. I had walked into the den after my parents, and yet at the same time I had beaten them home. So unless I had tripped into a time warp and not noticed it, something wasn't adding up in a big way. And if I could just figure out what…

"Usiku?" Mom said loudly, as if I couldn't hear her from three feet away. "Honey, what's wrong?"

"Oh…yeah, I'm fine," I answered quickly, still only half-listening. "Just…tired. So where were you?"

"Your mom and I just went for a walk," Dad replied without missing a beat. "Can't say it was for the fresh air, though, 'cause those hyenas…" He rolled his eyes and gagged. "Not fun."

"Yeah, I know…" I answered without thinking. Almost before I had a chance to regret my words, my mom's eyes were zeroed in on me.

"When were you around those hyenas?" she demanded. "How many times do I have to tell you how dangerous they are?"

Another word I'd heard Dad use a couple times floated across my mind, this one not nearly as polite as the first one. "Oh, uh…" I stuttered, quickly deciding to fall back on my original plan. "I…had to go use the grass really bad and you guys were gone, so I just…" I trailed off as my mother's eyes bored into mine, trying to ward off her icy stare with a cheesy grin like my dad did earlier. It didn't work.

"Bed," she ordered. "And next time, hold it till we get back."

"Okay…" I mumbled as she nudged Jua back towards our corner, stifling a yawn along the way. Dad didn't say a word, though, not even when Mom glanced back at him and told him to come to bed too. He just stared at me with a weird expression that I never would've been able to read if I hadn't known him so well. But I knew that look. It was the look he gave the other lions whenever one of them tried to skip guard duty. It was the look he gave me whenever I tried to pretend I hadn't heard Mom call me for dinner.

It was the look he gave me when he knew I was lying. And despite how impossible it was, I knew that he knew I had followed them. But if he did know, then why hadn't he said anything? Especially with how paranoid he had been…

And that was when it all clicked together. All this time, I'd been wondering how I'd managed to get back in the den before my parents, and only now did I realize that I shouldn't have been thinking about how it happened; I should've been thinking about what it meant.

Why had I been out in the grasslands? Because I was following my parents. And why was I following them? Because they wanted to talk and I wanted to eavesdrop. And why did I have to eavesdrop instead of just talking to them in the den? Because they didn't want anyone else to know what they were talking about. But Dad hadn't done a very good job making sure of that, had he? Because I followed them out there. Because I knew what they were talking about.

And it had never occurred to me that I might not be the only one.

That was what I realized as my dad finally looked away and flopped down beside Mom. I realized that I had beaten my parents home. I realized that I had reached Pride Rock before them, and that whoever I had followed hadn't been them, and that whoever I had followed had probably be out there for the same reason as me.

But most important of all, I realized that whoever I had followed had probably heard every word my dad said. And I realized that once they got back, they had walked straight into the den.

* * *

Needless to say, sleep wasn't at the front of my mind after my little epiphany about how bad Dad's plan was looking right about then. I doubt I could've slept even if I tried given how worried I was about the morning, but at the same time I was maddeningly helpless to do anything about it. I couldn't warn Dad about what I'd seen without revealing the fact that I'd been listening in on their private conversation, and even if I didn't get in trouble for that, there was no telling where the lion (or hyena) I had followed was. For all I knew, they could be right beside me, still tuned in to every word that passed through my dad's lips. I couldn't take that risk, especially since I couldn't even be sure my hunch was right. The only compromise I could think of was to pull him aside tomorrow and tell him, but that would ruin his plan for sure regardless of whether I was right or not, and then we'd be stuck with Scar as king for the rest of his life. I didn't know what to do.

Eventually, I managed to drift off into an uneasy slumber, but even my dreams didn't bring any respite from my dilemma. The whole night long, I was shunted from one nightmare to another, completely powerless to my own fears. Nothing made much sense: one minute I would be watching from high above, the next second I'd be a hyena out in the grasslands. But no matter where I was, each dream ended the exact same way: my dad and Scar, circling each other, silently daring the other to strike first. Sometimes it'd be Scar that swung first, sometimes Dad. But every single time, I never saw the end of the fight.

I never saw whether my dad lived or died.

I woke up late the next morning. You'd think I'd have been awake with the sun given everything that was supposed to happen that day, but even that still wasn't enough to disrupt my sleep. Some things never change, I guess. In any case, the morning definitely came way too fast. And it didn't help that I realized the gravity of my mistake almost as soon as I woke up.

Surprisingly, it actually took a couple seconds for me to remember the events of the previous night, but once I did I snapped upright like someone had stomped on my tail and then lit it on fire. I had to talk to my dad about last night quick. Before he went through with his plan. Before he fought Scar.

Before my dream came true.

"Mom, where's…"

And I didn't even have to finish the question. Because as soon as I turned around, my stomach twisted into a thousand tiny knots and every hair on my body stood on end. Because as soon as I turned around, I saw my mom staring at the clot of lions gathered at the center of the den, a blank look washing over her features. Because as soon as I turned around, I saw that aside from Jua, she was completely alone.

Because as soon as I turned around, I knew that it was already too late.

I didn't bother to tell Mom where I was going, and she didn't bother to stop me. Maybe she knew I had followed them too. Maybe she didn't. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered, except that my dad was about to die and I was the only one who could save him. I sprinted into the crowd and shoved straight through it, desperately searching for a flash of dark brown through the sea of beige. But he wasn't there. He wasn't anywhere.

Growling with frustration, I dodged through the mass of bodies at full speed and nearly smashed into the den wall when I finally reached it. Once I recovered from the shock of the giant expanse of rock nearly rearranging my face, I skirted around the edge of the cavern until I found one of the dozens of secluded ridges that stuck out from the outer rim of the den and hung out a bit over it. Briefly remembering all of the times Mom had told me never to go up on the ledges, I went ahead and went up on the ledges. Maybe from up there, I could actually pick out individual lions instead of just one big crush.

The ledge I settled on offered a great view of the whole den, and soon enough I found my dad hidden behind the crowd near the far side of the cavern, his sharp gaze leveled directly on the center of the den. I would've gone down to him right then, but before I could move something else caught my eye. Namely, the same something that had caught the eye of every single lion in the den.

Right in the center of the den, where everybody else including my dad was looking, Scar was sitting stiffly upright on the king's pedestal, seemingly unaware of the crowd around him. A skinny hyena with a speckled gray coat and jet-black feet was collapsed by the king's feet, his sides heaving and his tongue hanging out. Scar made no effort to help him, but instead just watched pensively as his servant gasped for air.

"If this is all you're planning on doing, I'll have to ask that you do so outside," the king said suddenly, sounding almost bored with the sight in front of him. "It's quite unbecoming."

"They're gone…" the hyena sobbed in response. "They're all gone…"

Now Scar didn't look so lethargic. "Who's gone?"

"They came out of the grass…killed all of us. They got Ghashi…"

"_Who?_" Scar snarled. "Who killed them?"

The hyena looked up, some of his breath returning. "Lions," he sighed. "A whole pride of 'em…I ain't never seen 'em before, no one had." He swallowed hard and shakily got to his feet, struggling mightily even with the simple movement. "They grabbed me, told me to find my leader and tell him…tell him his days were numbered."

The king began to absentmindedly pace back and forth. "How many were there?"

"The hell should I know? I never even saw most of 'em. Just what they left behind…"

"_How many were there?" _Scar interrupted, his voice rising back into a vicious snarl.

The hyena flinched but didn't fall back. "Maybe a dozen, maybe more," he guessed with a shrug. "They're fast, boss. Half the guys never even knew what hit 'em, and the other half couldn't do nothin' about it."

Scar didn't reply, and for a while the silence in the den was complete. As the king began to pace again, the hyena's eyes followed him, his gaze slowly narrowing at his leader's indecision. "Boss, we gotta do somethin'," he finally came out with. "Those guys'll tear us up worse than bad if we don't stop 'em now."

The den lapsed into silence once more. If a cricket had chirped right then, every lion there would've known it.

"Assemble a retaliatory force," Scar finally ordered after nearly half a minute of silence. "Take as many as you need."

The hyena sucked in a breath, then nodded. "Yes, your highness," he replied wearily before limping back out of the den and motioning to the throng of hyenas outside that I could just barely see now that the crowd inside had parted a bit. As the hyena disappeared and the circle closed again, Scar turned his gaze away from the den entrance, lied back down, and closed his eyes, a nonchalant expression retaking its position on his face. If I had looked only at the king, I would have thought that nothing had even happened.

As the king relaxed and the crowd began to murmur, my mind reeled. I had been so sure that Scar knew about my dad's plan, but he had just taken the bait for it without so much as blinking. Was it possible that he really didn't know what was going on? Once again, I wondered who exactly I had followed home. And once again, deep down in the pit of my stomach I had a feeling that I was missing something.

Suddenly, I noticed that the patch of brown fur I'd been keeping in the corner of my eye was gone. My dad had moved…but to where? My heart pounded as I scanned the crowd again, but this time I found Dad much quicker than I had before. He was right by the den entrance, flanked by Jadi, a wiry younger lion with a much lighter brown pelt than my father's, and Bavu. The crowd of lionesses parted again to let the three males through, and before I knew it the last three guards from Mufasa's pride was standing before the king of their new one.

It didn't take Scar long to sense the presence of the trio surrounding him, and he blearily cracked one eyelid open and eyed his adversaries, focusing more on my dad than on the two lions next to him.

"So this is how it ends," he commented dryly, as if he was talking about the weather. "You three against poor little old me."

"You've got two options, Scar," my dad said, ignoring the king's words. "Call off your forces and step down, and we'll let you leave peacefully."

Scar chuckled. "And I don't suppose I have to ask what option number two is…" he intoned.

"You knew the price for murder when you went into that canyon. It's high time you paid it."

"So you would kill me, then?" Scar asked quizzically. "Quite a paradox we've created here…

"The choice is yours, Scar," Dad concluded, still not listening to anything the king said. "Either step down or fight."

"Oh, must this all end in violence?" the king crooned with a shake of his head as he got to his feet. "And all over a crime I didn't commit. What's so bad about me that you resort to all this? I wouldn't want a struggle…someone could get _hurt_."

I could tell my dad didn't like the sound of that, but Scar didn't give him a chance to reply. "I don't know what kind of lion you think I am," he continued. "But I know I'd _hate_ to be responsible for the death of a family member." Scar's mournful look shifted into a sympathetic one. "Wouldn't you, Jabari?"

"What are you talk…" Dad started to say. Then for the second time in my life, I saw a look of terror sweep across my dad's face. And this time, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what it was about.

"Don't," he muttered in the same pleading tone as before, this time with a bit of conviction. "Don't bring them into this. They have nothing to do with this."

Scar's eyebrows shot up, and the corners of his mouth began to curl into a vicious smile. "They didn't," he said with a shrug, before his grin completely overtook his face. "Not until now."

I didn't even see the hyena until he was right beside me on the ledge. Or rather, until I ran smack into his chest trying to get off the ledge.

"Going somewhere?" he cackled with a sneer, right behind he grabbed me in his teeth and threw me out into the center of the den.

It wasn't that long of a fall, actually, but since my descent wasn't exactly what I'd call controlled, the end of it punched every inch of air I had ever even thought about having out of my lungs and treated the back of my head about as gently. I bounced a couple times before rolling to a halt at the edge of the pedestal, my head spinning and my stomach feeling like it had been crushed into a ball the size of a walnut. The world blinked out of focus and a high-pitched buzz filled my ears as bone met rock, but as I turned and squinted behind me I could still barely see my dad jump up to rescue me. Almost before I stopped moving, though, the same hyena that had knocked me down was standing over me with two of his buddies right by his side, all three of them growling and snarling for all they were worth. After a moment's hesitation, Dad sat down again but didn't back up.

"My, my, how the tables have turned," Scar declared with an almost giddy edge to his voice. "Now tell me, Jabari…how much is my life worth to you? Your only son, perhaps? Perhaps just one of his legs? Or there's always your pretty little daughter…"

"Dad…" I managed to cough before one of the hyena's paws connected with the back of my skull, right where it had hit the ground just a moment before. I cried out in agony as the den exploded in stars, and I helplessly wrapped my forepaws around myself and squeezed my eyes shut, hardly able to breathe through the pain. The only sound I could manage after that was a tiny moan.

"Don't touch him!" Dad snarled, the piercing shout sending my brain reeling again. "I swear on the gods, if you hurt him…"

"I know, I know…you'll kill me, right? What a confident little rebel you are…"

"I should be. There are twenty full-grown lions in this den, and only one of you. I like those odds."

"I'm outnumbered?" Scar gasped, faking surprise before furrowing his brow in deep thought. "How could this happen..." Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and his malicious grin returned. "Oh, that's right, I remember now…my whole army's out in the grasslands, isn't it? Taking care of those nasty rogues?" His grin widened. "You can come in now, Kipele."

The whole pride moved as one and faced the den entrance. Even in the state I was in, I could see exactly what everyone was looking at: a single hyena, with a speckled gray coat, black paws and a cheeky grin stretched across his muzzle. It didn't take me long to recognize him as the hyena that had been at Scar's feet just a few minutes later, presumably at death's door. It also didn't take me long to see the giant pack of hyenas right behind him.

"You see, Jabari, you underestimate me," Scar concluded in a silky smooth mutter. "You only think about what's going on in this den, while my thoughts are a bit more…extensive."

"So what'd you guys think?" Kipele asked the crowd conversationally as he strutted back into the den. "Pretty good show, right? What with the killing and the helplessness and that whole 'couldn't even see 'em' bit…"

"You…faked it?" I sputtered incredulously, turning everyone's attention back to me. "You faked all of it?"

"Well, duh, I faked it," Kipele replied with a roll of his eyes. "Thought it was kinda obvious m'self, once I dropped that "your days are numbered" line…ah, but what do I expect from a buncha idiot _lions_?"

"But…why?" I asked, the gears inside my brain grinding frantically to try and understand. "Why would you fake it if you already knew about the whole thing?"

"Solvin' two problems at once, kiddo. Gettin' daddy over here to come out with his little 'contingency plan'…and makin' sure his friends walked right into our trap."

My stomach churned as I thought of Jadi's friend Busara. "You mean…"

Kipele grinned and shrugged. "Sorry, kid," he replied. "Our orders were to make Busara didn't see another day." His grin widened, and he jerked his head to the side, motioning to someone behind him. "And orders are orders."

With that, another hyena came forward, something brown and furry sticking out of his mouth. I didn't need to wonder long about what it was, though, because as soon as he reached Kipele's side the new hyena cracked his jaw open and spit it out, letting it fall onto the den floor with a sickeningly wet splat. It was a clump of mane hair, still attached to something flat-looking on one end. I had to swallow hard to keep from throwing up once I realized what that flat-looking thing was.

The crowd rippled with shock as a gooey dark red smear began to spread out from the russet clump of hair and flesh, and even Dad turned away in disgust for a moment. Somewhere among the lionesses, someone cried out, but I didn't see who it was since I was a bit occupied counting the cracks in the stone beneath my toes and trying not to dry-heave too loudly at the time. Any cub worth his claws knew that a lion's mane was the source of all his pride, his dignity, and his respect. To a lion, ripping out a chunk of someone's mane was about the same as ripping off his whole head. It was enough to make anyone's breakfast go sour.

"Simply barbaric," Scar remarked, completely unmoved by the desecration committed by the hyenas. "Yet unarguably effective."

"I can't believe we didn't just kill you when we had the chance," Bavu hissed back, like Dad refusing to look back at all that remained of Busara. "How could you do something like this?"

"Wasn't all that hard, really," Kipele butted in. "First, you get a nice firm grip with your teeth, and then you just…"

Bavu's roar was so loud, I was surprised I could even think at all through the porcupine quills stabbing through my eardrums. For a moment, Kipele was shocked into silence, but a few seconds later he was laughing again. "Whoa, there…down, kitty," he chuckled. "You wanna fishy?"

Okay, forget Bavu; at that point, _I _was about ready to rip this guy's throat out. But before either of us could begin the process of turning the hyena into a wet spot on the wall, my dad's calm yet powerful voice stopped both of us dead in our tracks.

"Leave him," he growled, finally turning around for a brief moment to let his fiery gaze sweep over the two sneering hyenas. "He's not worth it."

"So quick to judge, Jabari," Scar commented, for the first time sounding a bit annoyed. "You haven't changed a bit."

"Oh, gods above, tell me this whole thing isn't because you weren't nuzzled enough as a cub," Dad growled. "And for that matter, you haven't changed much either."

"Change is relative, Jabari. Wisdom grows like the grass…but a fool is always a fool."

"So who's the spy?" Dad asked forcefully, once again ignoring Scar's reply. "You must've seduced someone into being your little stooge…who's the lucky lady?"

"Oh, 'seduced' is such a strong word…" a deep, harsh voice replied from somewhere in the crowd. Once again, the sea of lionesses parted, and the skinny lioness I had seen next ato Scar two nights ago stepped forward. "And I can think of one way I could've done worse," she added with a distasteful look at Dad.

Dad's eyebrows creased a bit, but he didn't really look all that shocked. "And a good day to you too, Zira. Just as charming as ever, I see."

"Jabari…just as cocky as ever."

"So you and Scar, huh? Plotting our demise as we sleep…just like old times, right?"

"Surprised?"

Dad scoffed. "Not really. What else should I expect from my sister-in-law?"

Zira's eyes narrowed. "Scar is the rightful king. If my sister is too blind to see past her husband's treachery, it's her own fault."

Dad chuckled and shook his head, turning to face me for a split second. "In-laws," he muttered with a grin. "Never trust 'em, Blackheart."

I grinned back, more to make Dad feel better than because of what he said. I could tell he was still scared from the way his eyes didn't smile with his lips, but it he wasn't dead yet, right? And as long as I remembered that, I'd be fine. But the more I repeated that sentence to myself in a useless attempt to stay calm, the more I began to wonder why I even had that to hold on to. Why _hadn't_ Scar done anything yet?

Apparently, Dad was thinking the same thing I was. "So what's your plan, big guy?" he asked next. "I figure if you were just gonna kill me, you wouldn't have bothered to go through with all this…so what's it gonna be? Gonna torture me? Stick bamboo under my claws until I beg for mercy? Rip out a bit of _my_ mane? I'd love to see you try…"

"Sorry to disappoint you," Scar replied in an acidic drawl. "But I'm afraid you won't be so lucky. I am going to make an example of you, Jabari. You will show your fellow pride members what happens to those that try to overthrow the rightful king."

"Well, we already know what happens to them," Dad shot back without missing a beat, an ironic smirk spreading on his face. "They kill their own brothers and any of his friends that get in the way."

Scar stopped in his tracks and leveled his gaze back on Dad, his face clear but his eyes ablaze with barely contained rage. Dad's grin grew wider, and he kept going. "And then they take a throne they knew all along wasn't theirs, and they abuse the lions they grew up with because they can't handle the fact that those lions wouldn't even look at them otherwise, and they hang out with the most despicable animals they can find because they know they could never expect any help from someone with morals. Or a conscience. Or a soul." Dad's brow shot up for a split second, and he let out a deep sigh. "And then one day, when they think they've got it all figured out, they get what's coming to them…"

Without warning, Scar's face twisted in agony, and with a furious snarl he slashed across my dad's face with a clawed paw. "_Silence!_" he roared as Dad's head snapped to the side, three shiny red gashes now stretching down it. Dad didn't stumble, though, and when he looked up again a moment later the same smile was still on his face. He had hit Scar deep, and he knew it. Dad was the one about to be executed, but everyone in the den knew Scar's secret now, and whatever credibility the king had ever had was gone now, all thanks to my dad. And despite the fact that his words would probably cost him his life, I was proud of him. I was proud to be my dad's son. Because even when he was staring indescribable evil right in the face, he never showed fear, and he never gave up.

For what seemed like an eternity, no one spoke. Scar and Dad were practically burning holes in each other's eye sockets, but neither of them blinked even once. Dad didn't even raise a paw to swipe away the round beads of blood starting to slide down his muzzle. All I could do was watch and pray that he hadn't gone too far.

You ever notice how praying never really works, though?

"You have two options, Jabari," Scar murmured, his brashness replaced by the quiet kind of fury that's ten times scarier than the loud kind. "Call off your little friends there," he continued with a nod towards Jadi and Bavu, who both looked ready to fight. "And I'll let you leave peacefully. Refuse, and the penalty will be death."

Another smile flickered on Dad's lips, but this one was more weary than cheerful. "You really expect me to believe it's that simple?" he muttered back with a tiny shake of his head. "You really expect me to believe that you would go through all of this, fake falling for my plan, _attack my son_...just to let me go?"

"I must say, I'm offended, Jabari," Scar replied with a smirk. "A lion should be able to trust his king. Don't you trust me?"

"No," Dad replied immediately.

Scar paused for a beat, then smiled. "All right, then. Let's make an arrangement. How about…"

"I said no."

Scar blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"I should've known you'd do this," Dad said. "You wanna know why _I _went through all of this? Because I wanted to give you an honorable way out. I could've just slit your throat while you slept and gotten the same result, but I didn't. Because even someone like you, someone that lets these _things_…". He jerked his head back towards Kipele, who lifted his lip and growled. "…into our land and defiles the body of a lion that never did anything to hurt you, deserves the same basic respect that all lions get. You want to take the throne? Fine. You challenge Mufasa, you beat him, and we'd respect your claim to it. We wouldn't have to like it, but we'd respect it. But you couldn't even do that, could you? You knew you couldn't get what you wanted the honorable way, so you took the next best thing. Murder."

For the second time in the last few minutes, Scar seemed to be at a loss for words. Either Dad was just good at reading people, or he and Scar went back way farther than I ever could have imagined. Not one of the lionesses made a peep, though their eyes were wide with either fear or confusion. I couldn't tell which.

"It's too late to fix what you did," Dad went on with an air of finality. "You killed your own brother, and you know it. But there's some stupid part of me, I don't know where, that thought you might still see reason, that thought there might still be some rational part of you buried somewhere in that twisted brain of yours. Mufasa must've thought there was, otherwise he never would've let you back into the kingdom after what you said to him. So I'll ask you one last time. Damnit, Scar, I'll beg you if you want: step down. You kill me, you lose every chance you'll ever have of saving yourself, so if you are ever gonna do one honest thing in your whole life, let it be now. This is your last chance, Scar. Be like Mufasa wanted you to be." Dad's gaze dropped to the floor, and with all the humility and compassion I'd ever heard leave his lips he added one last sentence. "Be like Taka again."

I couldn't believe my ears, and judging by the turmoil broiling behind the king's emerald gaze he couldn't either. Even Bavu and Jadi looked shocked, which gave fuel to the nagging suspicion at the back of my mind that Dad was making this up as he went along. But whether it was planned, staged, or just from his heart, it was working. Scar looked positively stunned, and for a moment I could've sworn on every single one of the Great Kings that it was guilt that I saw flash in his eyes. And in the second after that, when he opened his mouth to speak, I could've sworn on all of them again that he was going to take my dad's offer.

"So a fight is honorable, then?" he asked quietly, as if confirming something he already knew.

"Yes," Dad replied, though I could tell he was disappointed. "If that's what you want."

"The terms?"

"One on one, no holds barred. First to submit agrees to the other's demands."

"Which are?"

"If I win, you step down from the throne and leave the Pridelands again, and you take your hyena friends with you. In a few years, you can make a request to be allowed back in again, and if I or whoever the current king is deems you worthy, we'll grant it."

"And if I should win?"

"Can I trust you?"

Scar blinked again. "What?"

"Can I trust you to follow the rules and accept defeat if it comes to that? Can I trust you to be honorable?" Scar didn't answer. "Can I trust you, Scar?"

Still no reply from the dark-maned king. After nearly a full ten seconds, he finally uttered a single word.

"Yes."

So Dad could trust him. That didn't mean I had to. Anyone that took that long to answer such a straightforward question set off about a dozen alarms in my mind, but Dad seemed satisfied with that response.

"And you can trust me, Scar," Dad added as the king fell silent. "Remember that."

"What if I should win?" Scar repeated dully, tripping another hundred blinking red alerts inside my head. He hadn't even acknowledged Dad's admission. Something wasn't right here.

"Then I'll call off my own 'forces'," Dad replied with a tiny grin. "And I'll be gone."

"You won't return?"

Dad nodded and looked Scar directly in the eyes. "If you win, you'll never see me again."

Scar stared back for a moment, then shut his eyes and took a deep breath. It looked like he was collecting his thoughts, or maybe making a decision. In any case, for the next few seconds the king was completely motionless.

Then his scar twitched, and his eyes opened.

"No," he muttered, his gaze hard as stone. "I won't."

Finally, the reason for every single one of the thousand alarms blaring inside my brain became utterly, perfectly, agonizingly clear. Dad was almost as quick as me, and Scar's lips had barely met again when my dad was on his feet and sprinting for the king, claws out and teeth bared. I guess he realized at the same time I did that Scar had never had any intention of fighting clean. I guess he wanted to make one last-ditch effort to take down Scar before his life ended. I guess in the end, it didn't even matter.

Because for all his words and all his efforts and all the fury he charged into his attack, he never even touched the king.

I didn't even notice the hard black nails digging into my side, or the sharp yellow teeth latched onto the back of my neck, or even the flecks of blood that sprayed from my own fur as I thrashed around like a lion gone mad. No, the single most overpowering emotion I've ever felt erased it all like it was just milkweed on the breeze. I don't what it was, or even what you would call it, but I know exactly what caused it: the searing and absolutely unforgettable image of my dad—my strong, fearless, unbeatable dad—slowly disappearing under an onslaught of shiny yellow hyena jaws. Even when a hyena's paw connected with the back of my head again and the world around me spiraled into a jumbled mess, I didn't give up. Bloody, bruised, blinded by pain, tears, and Aiheu knows what else, I never stopped trying to reach my dad. Not even after floating balls of fuzz from the same mane I had once slept on top of began to litter the ground did I stop trying to escape. Not even after hearing my dad roar not in surprise or anger, but in agony, for the first and last time did I stop trying to save him. Not even after I saw him fall, slowly, almost as if the den was a globe filled with water and we all were trapped inside, did I stop trying to keep the unthinkable from happening.

But then, the pile collapsed and broke apart. The hyenas backed away, claws and muzzles stained bright red, and through the white fog that I hadn't noticed overtake the den I could see my dad, shattered and broken beyond repair…but alive.

Still alive. He's still alive. Someone called them off. But who…

And then he appeared.

Scar. Taka. The king. I could've called him any number of names, but only one filled my heart and soul at that very moment: _murderer_.

"You told me to be noble," he whispered in a raspy undertone. "You told me to trust you. You told me to be like Taka."

Dad's head lifted off the ground, his mangled features still managing to twist into a look filled with enough hatred to set the whole grasslands on fire. The murderer was unaffected. With a shake of his head, he leaned in close and almost touched my dad's nose with his own, his quickened breaths matching Dad's ragged ones.

"_I trust no one_," the murderer seethed. "Taka is gone. Dead. You killed him. You all…you, Mufasa, Busara. You killed him."

"No…" Dad coughed, the glow behind his eyes already fizzling out. "He killed himself…"

"He is _dead_ to me!" the murderer roared, his face alight with an insane rage. "You can't hurt me!"

Dad stared. Scar glared. And one last alarm went off.

"You can't hurt him anymore," the king, the murderer whispered. And his claws came out.

Finally, I lost it. I bit, kicked, scratched, did everything but dig through the freaking floor to get away from the hyena holding me down. And suddenly, I was free. Why, how, I don't know, and at the moment I couldn't have cared less. I had to reach him. Fight him off. Do something. But as I scrambled to my feet and whipped around, I saw it, one last memory to add the quickly growing bank of images that would stay me for all eternity.

Finally, inside a cold, dark den on a warm summer morning, I saw the end of my nightmare.

Scar's claw sliced down, down, down…and connected. Dad didn't resist. Probably couldn't, given the state Scar was in. And as Scar moved away, his still extended claws streaking the polished stone, Dad coughed one last time, and turned to look at me. And I saw the light in his eyes one last time. And I saw him smile one last time. He whispered something, and the light danced. Danced, flickered, sputtered, coughed…

And died.

I could try and tell you how I felt right then. I could go on for days about how the fog at the edges of my vision rolled in and wrapped me inside it, flashing from boiling hot to freezing cold in simultaneous instances; about how my lungs shriveled up and crumbled into dust, surely never to take in another breath; about how at the exact moment my dad's heart stopped, mine did too. But you still wouldn't get it. I could talk and talk and you could listen for a thousand years, and you would never understand. So here's the deal: you walk away from this, and you live your life thinking that everything around you couldn't be more perfect, and then you watch your best friend, the one who raised you and held you and loved you and would never even think a bad thought about you, die—no, be murdered, right before your eyes. And you feel what I felt, and you live what I lived, and you understand every single little nuance of the feeling that permeates every nerve in your body, encases your heart in ice, and tears your soul into a million irreparable pieces.

And then we'll talk.

I don't really know how I ended up next to my dad's body. It had been a thousand miles away a few second ago, but in just that time I had already reached it. I had a feeling I should've said something to him, should've given him one final goodbye. But there weren't words big enough to say what I wanted to tell him. So I didn't even try. Instead, I just lifted my paw—so small, so weak next to his—and used it to press down on his eyelids to close them one final time. And I didn't cry. Come to think of it, I didn't even feel sad. I didn't feel anything, save for a hollow emptiness in the center of my chest that I knew no amount of meat would ever fill.

Behind me, Scar spoke up again, this time addressing Bavu and Jadi in a deep, rumbling growl. "Get out of my sight," he said. "Lest you suffer his fate as well."

Finally, an emotion to fill the void: hope. Bavu and Jadi were still alive. They would finish what my dad had started. They would punish Scar for what he did. They would make him pay.

I turned around, ready to see Scar get his, but what I saw didn't make any sense. Bavu and Jadi were gone. Outside the cave, two brown-furred bodies were running and pushing through the crowd of hyenas, completely ignoring the jeers and taunts of the endless black-furred canines. They were gone. Bavu and Jadi were gone. They left.

And that was when it hit me. They left. They didn't stay and fight, they didn't try to stop Scar, they didn't even argue. They just ran away. And with that realization came a new emotion, one that started as a tiny ember glowing deep in my heart and quickly became a roaring wildfire, barely contained inside the tiny dark shell that was me. One that somehow managed to momentarily close up the bottomless hole poking through my soul. One that I had known in lesser forms a hundred times over but never in such force.

Absolute, uncompromised, uninhibited rage.

They betrayed him. They all betrayed him. He trusted all of them, and he sacrificed his life for them. They killed him. They were all guilty: Scar, Bavu, Jadi, even Mom could've stopped it and didn't. They all betrayed him.

And I betrayed him.

I knew this would happen. I knew that Scar had sent a spy out to listen in on his plans. I knew he would die unless I did something to warn him.

And I did nothing.

Well, now I could do something. Would do something. Bavu and Jadi were gone, and Mom probably felt the same as me. Only one other lion left.

Scar was ten feet away by then, his shoulders limp and still shaking with hatred. If I attacked him now, he wouldn't expect it. To kill him now…it would be low. It would be murder. It wouldn't be _honorable_.

My dad was honorable. That was the most important thing in the world to him. You could do anything, as long as you had honor. Honor was what separated us from the darkness inside us. Honor was what kept us sane, alive, intact. My dad had that. He had it all. He had _honor_.

And look where it got him.

The darkness was there, begging to be let out, begging for vengeance wrought in blood. So I dropped the barrier, let it fill me out and smother the still glowing coals of anger under crushing and weightless nothingness. And as the darkest tendril of all curled up within my heart, I remembered my nickname. Blackheart. I chuckled, the sound much too deep to belong to me but too familiar to be from anything else. About time I lived up to that name.

My claws slid out, black as every other part of me. The den was gone, the lions…even Scar disappeared behind a curtain sewn from shadows. One single image lit up the darkness: my father, when I was just a little cub, smiling above me. Nuzzling me. Speaking.

"I love you, Blackheart."

The image wavered and shimmered, then broke. And as the darkness swept in and erased everything that was Usiku, my lips parted. And I whispered back, just loud enough to reach my ears.

"I love you too, Dad," I said. "I love you too."

I was right. Scar didn't see me coming. Never would have, if I hadn't screamed with every gasp of air still in my lungs. There were no words, no threats, not even his name. Just rage, and pain, and a horrifyingly intoxicating blackness darker than the far side of the moon.

He turned around slowly, expecting some feeble rebuke from a tiny little cub. His jaw only opened in a snarl after mine closed around his neck, at the same time as my claws scratched at any fur left in my sights for even a second. And I should've beaten him. I should've bit down right then, crushed his windpipe and watched him bleed out like my father before him. But something went wrong, because the next thing I knew I was flying through the air, the fleeting contact of Scar's paw against my head still enough to send yet another jolt of agony shrieking through my veins. I was back on my feet the instant I hit the ground, blindly charging long before I registered Scar's sudden movement. Another blow, another stabbing pain, and I was ten feet away again, exactly where I'd started.

This time, I didn't attack. This time, a second scream seared my throat raw, this one forming into a jumbled mess of words I didn't even know the meaning to. I'd heard my dad use them, under his breath and in anger and hardly ever at another lion, so I used them now. And I knew it was awful. I knew that whatever was coming out of my mouth was deplorable enough to send most of the crowd reeling, including a few of the hyenas. But I didn't care. Because whatever terrible things I was saying, whatever horrible sacrilege I committed against the gods, however many lionesses fell back in shock…Scar deserved it.

Finally, my voice gave out and I was forced to stop, my chest heaving and my throat shredded and silenced. Scar didn't yell back, like I knew he wouldn't. Instead, he just stared for a moment, then walked forward, unclawed paws slowly advancing towards me. I didn't back away. I knew what would happen next.

His claws shot out, and a strange spike of adrenaline shot down my spine. This was it. I would die now, with hardly even a fight. And Dad would still be gone. And Scar would still be king.

But he wouldn't forget me. I would not let him forget me.

So as he came to stand right in front of me, I stayed right where I was. And I looked up at him, and he looked down at me. And I stared straight into his eyes, and I felt no fear.

"Do it," I challenged, my voice hoarse but utterly unwavering. "You murderer…kill me like you killed him."

I wanted to shut my eyes, but I forced myself to keep them open. I wasn't afraid of him. And I wasn't afraid of dying. Death meant peace. Death meant seeing Dad again. Death meant never having to suffer again. So I knew death, and I wasn't afraid. And I stared straight through his emerald eyes, and I spoke one last time.

"Do it," I ordered, fully accepting my fate without complaint. "Do it."

But Scar didn't comply. As my gaze hardened, his softened, first into frustration, then briefly into confusion, then finally something else I couldn't identify. And I realized that I may not have feared death, but Scar did. And to me, it looked like he had just realized it himself.

I didn't see his claws retract as much as I felt the bloodlust drain out of him. And then it was over. Scar glanced down at me one last time, blinked, then turned and walked away. And as he walked away, his paw darted up to his eye. And I could've sworn it came away wet.

That was about the time I realized I was still alive. And somehow, that simple fact was just too much to take.

"No," I muttered, a flood of emotions I couldn't even begin to identify suddenly crushing every bit of darkness that still remained. "Coward…" Screwing up my eyes, I untied my tongue again and put it to good use. "_You coward!_" I yelled after him, my voice cracking for the first time. "You can kill him, why not me? Damn you, Scar, I said _do it_!"

Just like Scar, my paw darted up to my eye. And just like Scar, it came away wet. At that moment, my legs went stiff, and then filled with lead.

"No…" I managed to choke out before my limbs wobbled and dropped me into a heap on the ground. I didn't move, didn't even try. I just lay there, the lionesses around me staring but never moving, letting the flood slowly drain out, one drop at a time, through my closed and weary eyes. I couldn't decide what I was more: angry, horrified, exhausted, or heartbroken. Finally, I just decided to be all of them.

With the barrage of emotions came the full horror of the situation, and realizing it only made the flood stronger. My dad was dead. Every last gleaming hope for a future in this world was gone. I had lost everything.

And the worst part of it was, I knew that every single horrible bit of it was entirely my fault.

* * *

I would be sarcastic here as usual, but it doesn't really seem appropriate...so yeah, let's not go there.

Anyway, I'd like to make two requests here. The first one is aimed at all of the people that have put this story on their story alert/favorites list but haven't reviewed yet. I really appreciate the story alerts and all, but at the same time I'd love to hear why you think my story's worthy of that. So here's what I'm asking for from you guys: one review. Just something about why you favorited it, your favorite scene/character/line, and/or anything you think I could improve on. After that, you're off the hook. I'd just like to hear your opinions at least once, if you don't mind. Please?

The second request is easier to fulfill: I put up a poll on my profile page recently to garner people's opinions about lions kissing in TLK fan fiction. If you want to chime in, I'd love to get some votes in on that.

That's all for now, I guess...see you in a bit for the conclusion of Chapter 15! (Yes, it does end...really. Don't give me that look.)


	18. Chapter 15: The Darkest Night Part 3

**IT'S ALIVE!**

Yes, I am back. With my longest update ever, no less. I'm really sorry that there was such a huge gap between updates, but both the writing and editing stages of this update hit some unforeseeable (as well as unavoidable) snags that really snarled things up for a while. But in the end, everything turned out all right, and I was ready to post just in time for the new year. So think of this as your belated Christmas/Chanukah present. Happy New Year, guys. Now on to the good stuff.

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**Edit (1/17/10): **I can't believe it took me this long to remember this...anyway, when I posted the chapter I forget to add this:

New Stuff Alert 2.0: This chapter will be the first of what I hope is many future chapters with a songtrack (for lack of a better word) to go along with it. And no, this doesn't mean songfics. This means that from time to time, I'll suggest a song as background music for a certain portion of the chapter, and in rare cases (like this one, for example), I'll also throw in songs that serve as personal inspiration for a specific character, scene, or possibly both. Anyway, the song for the scene when Usiku meets Sarabi at the watering hole near the end of the flashback is "Across the Universe" by The Beatles. Also, I think the song "Confusion and Frustration in Modern Times" by Sum 41 describes Jino's attitude about the world pretty much perfectly, as well as some of Usiku's feelings and how he slowly grows to be the same. Check out both songs if you want.

(Oh, fine...the songs used for this chapter are owned by the respective performing artists and record labels that produced me, and not me. Although honestly, if you can't figure out that kind of thing on your own, you've got some issues to work out. Unless, of course, you happen to be six feet tall, female, and attractive...then, just call me John.)

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**Chapter 15: The Darkest Night – Part 3**

**Usiku**

I don't know how much time I wasted just lying there on that den floor. Some part of me knew that I should move, knew that eventually the moment would come when I would have to get up and start living my life again. But honestly, at the moment I don't think I wanted that moment to ever come at all. Getting up meant accepting that Dad was dead. Getting up meant I'd have to reenter a world without him; that I'd have to do so willingly. And I didn't want to. Maybe I never would. So better to stay here, and see if life wouldn't just pass me by for a while.

None of the other lionesses would come near me. Probably scared of me, after what I said to Scar. I could still hear them, though, shuffling around the den and whispering to each other, clucking away about the blood and the death and that poor, poor child. But none of them came to comfort me, not even Mom. And maybe that would've made a difference. Maybe if just one lioness had come up to me then and helped me up and told me that everything was gonna be okay, I might not have ended up the way I did. They might have actually been right about what they said.

But they didn't, I did, and they sure as heck weren't.

Once, one of them tried to move Dad's body. If her friends hadn't pulled her out of the way, I'm pretty sure I would've ripped her head clean off. As I leapt to my feet, they backed off again, eyes wide. Still afraid. I snarled, but at the same time I almost wanted to laugh. Now they respected me. Now I wasn't a little kid anymore. And now that I had all that, I found that I didn't care for it anymore. All I'd really ever wanted was to make my dad proud. And that was no longer an option.

From then on, I stayed right by his side, just as motionless as I was before. I didn't think about much. There wasn't much to think about. When I did bother to knock the dust off the worthless hunk of gray matter lodged beneath my fringe, it wasn't long before my thoughts turned to the quickly stiffening corpse behind me. So I learned quickly to not think at all, to just let all my anguish and fear and denial melt into one torrential black cloud and smother my soul, leaving me with just a blank stupor to occupy my mind. And so that was how I passed the hours: unfeeling, uncaring, knowing nothing but the cold, hard ground and the undeniable fact that the world as I knew it was gone forever, and that I had no one left to help me accept it. Mom was too deep in her own grief to even move from what used to be our spot in the back of the den, and I didn't have a clue where Jua was. She probably got taken in by some of the other mothers. She was probably with them now, being cuddled and kissed and told that he was in a better place now. Being told that she still had them. Being told that she was still loved.

And then there was me. The forgotten one. Broken, inconsolable, and utterly alone.

At some point, I fell asleep. I didn't realize it at the time, probably because there was hardly a difference between dream and reality at that point. Through the haze that filled my head, everything looked out of focus and insubstantial, like I was just imagining it all and I would snap awake at any second. I think for a while I actually believed that. And the next thing I knew, the sunlight outside was fading into night.

And my dad's body was gone.

You know what the weird thing was? I knew the moment I woke up that he wouldn't be there; in fact, it was the first thing to flash across my brain. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I knew they wouldn't just leave him there. They'd want to go give him a proper funeral. They'd want to make sure his soul was laid to rest.

Now if only one of them could've maybe shot a passing glance at _my_ soul, that would've been just peachy.

I stood up slowly, much to the vocal surprise of some of the lionesses still left in the den. In the same instant, most of them scooted back a few inches, reluctant to stay within my reach for any longer than they had to. But then again, they had every right to be afraid. 'Cause I was crazy, right? A maniacal psychopath murders my father in cold blood and I want revenge, and that makes _me_ crazy. So what did that make them? I'll tell you what.

Cowards.

All of them. The lionesses, Jadi, Bavu…any one of them could've stood tall and helped me fight, or spoken up, or yanked their claws out of their butts for one second and done _something_. But they were too afraid to act. Afraid of Scar, afraid of punishment, afraid of losing their families to the king's wrath. Hey, that kid's dad just snuffed it. Good thing it wasn't _my_ dad. Let's just sit back and hope he doesn't notice us, shall we? Passivity is safety. Ignorance is bliss. Long live the king.

And now not only did they refuse to help, they wouldn't even look me in the eyes. They were honest-to-Aiheu _afraid _of me. Grown lionesses, girls that I had seen tear the throats out of a thousand animals without even batting an eye, were terrified of a ten-month old child that they had known for every single second of those ten months, because of one instance of justified rage. Cowards.

I met each and every one of their stares with a brief but withering one of my own. The thought of going ahead and attacking them crossed my mind more than once, but what good would that do? They'd already gone and buried my dad while conveniently forgetting to invite his only son, and it was much too late to change that. And heaven forbid we frighten the lionesses again. Someone could get _hurt_.

"What is he still doing here?"

And there he was. The lion of the hour. All hail the king. Aiheu save the king. Why, yes sire. Whatever you say, sire. You took care of that nasty rebel, you brought peace again, and everything's just fine and dandy, thank you sire. Except there's just one teeny tiny little problem. You forgot something. You forgot to clean up afterwards.

You forgot me.

The blackness was back in an instant, pushing mightily against the quickly thinning walls of my heart. So easy to let it take over. So easy to gather morals, wishes, dreams, light, and crush them beyond recognition beneath suffocating, scalding smoke and fire. So easy to just give up control and let the blackness bare my teeth and extend my claws and focus one last seething glare on the black-maned lion standing right when he had that morning, fixing me once again with the passive gaze that might as well have been named after him.

This time, the lionesses stayed where they were, a fact that I noticed immediately in the corner of my eye. They fidgeted and grimaced, but they didn't back away like they had that morning. Maybe that was good. Cowards they may be, but at least they would watch me decide my own fate. One way or another, Scar was going to pay. The darkness inside me would make him pay.

But as I leapt forward and prepared to strike, a strong russet paw slammed down in front of me. I looked up and immediately recognized the face of the lioness that had almost stomped me into the den floor: the queen. The _real_ queen. Sarabi.

"He doesn't know, Scar," she said icily, not once even glancing in my direction. "If you won't kill them, at least give them time to adjust." Now her gaze flickered once to me. "Or to mourn."

Scar's eyes darted back and forth between the me and the queen a couple times, then he coughed out a quick, confident sigh. "Fine," he replied curtly before turning on his heel and striding back out into the fading sunlight. Sarabi watched his gently swinging tail for a moment, then turned to me.

"Don't," she ordered. And I obeyed. My claws shot back in, my jaw clamped shut, and I sat down quickly, a bit shell-shocked from the sudden departure of the black cloud of rage that had been so strong only a second before. I couldn't explain it. The darkness was still there, brooding back in its lair somewhere just below the surface of my conscience. But the queen…it was her voice that had chased it off: gentle like my own mother's, but at the same time infused with the kind of authority that only a monarch could possess. And it was more than that. She had noticed me, cared enough to stop me from attacking Scar again and probably condemning myself to the same fate as my father. And that, more than anything, shocked the anger right out of me. I didn't know what to think, both about my apparently now incontrollable fits of rage and even more so about the situation at hand. What exactly did I not know?

It wasn't long before Sarabi clued in to my confusion. "Scar's barred any cub from entering the den," she said, answering my unspoken question. "No exceptions."

Okay, didn't expect _that_. "Wh...why?" I managed to ask.

"He said he doesn't want them in the way," Sarabi replied for the sake of the other lionesses. But her real answer was given through her eyes, in the way she looked at me with a mixture of pity and a strange familiarity that I knew only those with a common enemy share. Of all the lions in this den, we were the only ones whom Scar had truly hurt. And I suppose in the grand scheme of things, that knowledge was one of the only reasons I didn't go completely insane. It certainly didn't fix anything, but at least it made it easier to swallow. Which meant it made swallowing back the darkness that much easier.

That being said, Scar's order made about as much sense as his claim to the throne. What was the point of keeping the cubs out of the den? Why not just kill us? Wasn't that what the new king was supposed to do anyway?

Me. It had something to do with me. What with Sarabi's look and everything that had happened that morning, there was no other possibility. He wanted to get rid of me, so I couldn't resist. So what happened this morning wouldn't happen again. So correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the easiest way to do that be to just nudge me off a cliff somewhere? But no, he does this instead. He wouldn't kill me. Not even when I had my jaws around his freaking throat…

And that was when I figured it out. He wouldn't kill me because he couldn't. Not because the other lionesses would care, not because his moral bankruptcy had gotten a bailout, but because he, just like everybody else, was afraid of me. Afraid of killing me, or any of the other cubs for that matter. It's one thing to take someone by surprise, to finish them off when they aren't looking. But to confront them head on, even a tiny little cub…that took something else. Ruthlessness, sure. Insanity. A lack of any conscience whatsoever. And Scar certainly had twice his fair share of all of those, but in the end you still had to have the guts to go through with it. And that most important quality of all was, in Scar at least, nonexistent.

He was a coward too.

I blinked once, then sighed. Well, if Scar wanted me out of the den, then I wouldn't be the one to question him. It wasn't like I wanted to hang around him any longer than I had to, either.

The lionesses parted as I made my way past them. I didn't look at any of them, and I probably wouldn't have even turned around if Sarabi hadn't spoken up one last time.

"Usiku," she called out, her voice still possessing the same gentle yet commanding power that had stopped me before. I came to a halt one last time, and for the first time that day I looked a lioness dead in the eyes. She didn't even blink.

"I'm sorry."

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know if there was even anything _to_ say. But as we two kindred souls stared across the divide between us, I had the oddest sensation that I was looking into a frozen lake and seeing my reflection. With just two words, she had said everything I had been thinking and more. She knew exactly what I was going through right now, and she truly was sorry. I knew that without a doubt.

And through all our grief and all our anger, she gave me the tiniest of smiles.

And I returned the favor.

Without another word, I turned back around and crossed the last few feet of the den. I wasn't all that disappointed to leave it behind, actually. There were enough bad memories in there to last a lifetime, and it was better than being dead. And besides, it wasn't like I had any special connection with any of the lions quickly fading into the shadows behind me. Except for one. And that was what kept me walking across that floor and through that opening and out into the sunlight. One thought, a brand new one that I'd never needed to think before. Or had any special desire to, for that matter. But there it was, like a tiny little bubble in the very center of my chest, untouched by the darkness and warmer than the pale yellow orb suspended above my head. One thought. One sentence. One blissful little fact.

_I think I just made a friend._

* * *

Okay, you remember that bubble I told you about just a second ago? That nice, warm, happy little bubble that the darkness couldn't get through? That feeling that maybe, just maybe, things might turn out okay?

Great. Now imagine that bubble flying straight into a rosebush, and you'll have a decent idea of what my face looked like about ten seconds after I went outside.

It wasn't so much the thought of leaving the den forever that got to me, or the fact that I didn't really even know where any of the cubs were. No, what got to me, what made a cub that had tried to kill a full-grown lion with the kind of assault that brought new meaning to the term "reckless abandon" literally shake at the knees, was the fact that I would be interacting solely with these cubs for quite possibly the rest of my life.

And I had never even spoken to a single one of them.

And that made me…afraid?

_Oh, for Aiheu's sake_, I grumbled silently. _Really? You're worried about not being able to relate to them? How hard can it be? Just walk up…okay, find them first, then just walk up and start talking. Or maybe I should be reserved…no, talking is better. They like to talk, right? Normal cubs like to talk, right? Okay, I'll talk. Start with my name, and talk about…_

_ About…_

_ You know what? I'm just gonna take my chances in the den._

And I almost made it, too. I was actually halfway back inside the place when Sarabi caught my eye.

"Can't find them?" she asked with another tiny smile.

"Nope, what a shame," I replied in one breath. "Guess I'll just have to-"

"They're under the promontory. Why don't you go down there now and get to know some of them?" Her tone was innocent, but once again her eyes gave away her true message. That message being, "I care about you, but I would not hesitate to launch your skinny brown tail all the way across this continent if it meant you'd get out of this den and therefore still be in possession of all your various internal organs tomorrow morning." Her eyes are very descriptive, I've noticed.

In any case, I didn't have much say in the matter. What with Sarabi's excessively toothy grin and my protective nature regarding my skinny brown tail, I was back outside before I knew it. Which meant I was back to square one with the other cubs.

_Maybe it won't be so bad_, I lied to myself as I padded down under the promontory. It was still blowing my mind that I was so freaked out about this, but who was I to argue with fact? I _was_ freaked out. I'd never been what you'd call "social", so much so that I actually tended to get nervous and clam up whenever I tried to have a honest conversation with any of the other cubs (or generally, when they tried to have a conversation with me). And to be honest, I had never really wanted to be any different. I'd always been more comfortable around adults, anyway. But now that wasn't an option. Time to suck it up and mingle with the masses. Whoop-de-freaking-doo.

I entered the cavernous space underneath Pride Rock as quietly as I could, expecting (hoping) maybe to be ignored, or at worst get a few shifty glances. What I didn't expect at all, though, was what happened next; namely, the entire group—maybe twenty cubs in all—going absolutely, heartstoppingly silent the instant I rounded the corner. The phrase "warm welcome" had apparently never entered any of their vocabularies.

Everyone stared, seemingly shocked to even see me alive. I stared back, briefly wondering if my inner desire to be struck by lightning at that precise moment was leaking out onto my face. I'm guessing "yes".

Trying to act as natural as is possible when one's spine has the flexibility of diamond, I scanned the crowd to see if I recognized any faces. I thought I saw Simba's friend Tama hanging out near the back with a different female cub I had seen with Simba a bunch of times, and on the far left I caught sight of a stocky yellow cub that looked far too much like Bavu to be anyone but his son, Tani, as well as another smaller, pudgier chocolate brown cub that bore more than a passing resemblance to Jadi. Aside from that, though, I didn't know a soul in the place. Even Jua was noticeably absent, but she was probably still out mourning somewhere. Or maybe she was still with Mom. I hadn't seen either of them since that morning…

I blinked hard and mentally shook my head. I didn't need or even _want_ to think about them. Not now, maybe not ever. Right now, I had more important things on my mind. Like, say, the fact that _every single cub in the cave was still staring at me._

So what the hell was I supposed to do now?

_Start talking_.

"Um…hi?" I said, picking a random cub near the front to make eye contact with first. She regarded me for a moment, then stood up, raised her eyebrows, and walked away. And so ended my first interaction with my own age group.

_I hate you, Sarabi._

For the most impossibly long moment of my life, everyone was silent again. For the next ten seconds, we waited for someone to speak up. And finally, after all that time, I got the hint that no one was going to. None of them wanted to talk to me. Not one. I'd been there for two minutes, and I was already an outcast.

Well, fine. They didn't want to talk to me. I didn't want to talk to them either. I had never wanted to talk to them. I couldn't even _see_ them anymore. My eyes were too blurry with something that most certainly was _not_ tears. No way. I didn't care one bit. So to show how much I didn't care, I stalked over to an empty corner and fully resisted the urge to punch a hole in the wall and scream.

Finally, the crowd dispersed. And as everyone shifted away and restarted all the conversations I had stopped, I shut my eyes and turned to face the same wall I had considered destroying a moment before. For the second time in as many minutes, I asked myself why I was so worried about what these other cubs thought about me. And for the second time in as many minutes, I could only come up with one answer.

I was lonely.

I guess that was what bothered me the most about my father's death, now that I think about it: he was my dad, sure, but more than that he was my friend. My one and only friend. And I'd never sought out anyone else because I'd never really needed anyone else. So now that he was gone, I was starting to regret always ignoring the other cubs. Isn't hindsight great?

Well, it wasn't like it mattered now. Maybe later I could try someone else, but deep down I knew they'd react the same as that first girl. Come to think of it, after what I'd done that morning, I could hardly blame them. And it wasn't like I was ever gonna change that myself. The whole time I was up in front of the crowd, I was so busy trying to keep a nonchalant expression that I'd hardly even looked at the first cub's face when I spoke to her. So while I had really been scared out of my mind, they had only seen aloof. Great. I bet _that_ went over well.

I sighed quietly, unconsciously resigning myself to the easier path that anonymity offered. At that point, I had given up hope of ever finding companionship again.

So imagine my surprise when just a few short seconds later, it found me.

"Hey, short stuff!"

I cracked one eye open and shifted a bit to see the source of the noise. Standing in front of me was a bony yellow lion that looked about a year older than me. His head was covered with a floppy brown tuft of mane, a few strands of which curled down and hung over his dark red eyes. He was filthy, but at the same time it didn't look like he cared one bit.

"You talkin' to me?" I grumbled, still not quite ready to rejoin society.

"No, I'm talkin' to the wall. You mind gettin' out of the way?" he shot back with a roll of his eyes. "Yeah, I'm talkin' to you! What're you doin' over here?"

"Mourning."

"Awfully reserved mourning you got there…"

"I wasn't aware you were the authority on it," I growled. "Should I call you 'sir'?"

"Sure, what the hell. And while you're at it, you could tell me why you're counting the cracks in the wall instead of hangin' out with all the other shrimps."

_Maybe if I just ignore him, he'd go away…_

"Helloooo? Anybody home?"

"Okay, you wanna know why?" I snapped, jumping to my feet and glaring as the other cub passively stared back. "Because I woke up this morning just in time to get the crap kicked out of me and see my dad be executed by the same guy you're all too terrified of to look in the eyes, and then when I try to do something about it you're all more scared of me than him! And now I come down here thinking, 'Hey, maybe they'll get it', and I get the same crap I got in the den! And I'm sick of it! I'm sick of everyone thinking I'm made of glass, and I'm sick of everyone thinking I'm gonna rip their throats out if they look at me wrong, and most of all I'm sick of everyone not having a freaking clue what _I'm_ thinking!"

"So what _are_ you thinking?"

For a moment, I was shocked into silence. So shocked, in fact, that I went ahead and answered his question honestly. "I'm thinking that nobody in this whole pride gives a damn about me. And to be honest, I don't know if I give a damn about them."

The other cub was completely silent after hearing that, giving me ample opportunity to reflect on how badly I'd just screwed up. Here was the one guy in this whole miserable place that had actually tried to talk to me, and I'd just screamed at him. Why couldn't I just shut the hell up and let things be?

I laid my head back down between my paws and tried to keep my eyes from going blurry again. All I'd done was mess things up even worse than before. I'd be lucky if this guy stayed another ten seconds.

"You really think that?" he asked in a quiet, sincere tone.

For a minute, I didn't know how to answer. Was there any point in lying to him anymore? Because the truth was, I did think that. I just hadn't meant to blurt it out so directly. And I had a feeling he knew that as well as I did. So I went ahead and told him the truth.

"Yeah," I said just as quietly. "I do."

The cub nodded, as if confirmed something he already knew. And I knew too. I knew that now, he'd turn around and walk away, and I'd be free to have all the privacy I wanted. I'd finally be alone for good. But before he left, he opened his mouth one last time, and one word slipped out. Not a complaint, not an apology for bothering me…just one short, tiny, seemingly meaningless word.

"Good."

My eyelids snapped open in the same moment that my head lifted up and swiveled around to face the cub, who for some reason was looking at me not with malice or disappointment, but…happiness?

"It's about damn time we got a smart one around here!" he laughed with a shake of his head.

To say I was baffled would be an understatement. Was I the only one that realized I had just insulted him?

"Wh…what?" I managed to stutter as the cub met my eyes again. "You…think that's good?"

"Hell, yeah, it's good!" he replied almost immediately. "Freakin' awesome, is what it is! Do you have any idea how long I've been waitin' to hear one of you little runts say what you just said?"

"What, that I didn't care about them?"

"Damn right…c'mon, you gotta meet the other guys!"

Before I could answer, the red-eyed cub took off, not once turning back to see if I was coming too, or even if I had heard him. Come to think of it, he had never ever told me his name.

"Hey!" I shouted after him. "Where are you…"

"Well, are you coming or not?" he shouted back before I could finish. With that, he spun around again and padded off, his head bobbing a few inches above the crush of shorter cubs. He sounded so confident, like he knew I was going to follow him. Just for that, I didn't trust him. How could I be sure this wasn't just some new torture that the cubs had thought up? How could I be sure this wasn't just more of the same I'd heard from everyone else?

But then, I remembered how happy he'd looked when I'd told him about what I thought of the other cubs. Not just nervous or entertained, but honestly happy. And then there was the fact that he came up and talked to me when no one else in the whole place even wanted to look in my direction. And suddenly, I realized that, in our whole conversation, he hadn't even mentioned that morning. All day long, I'd been getting fearful glances and hearing whispers behind my back from everyone I passed, even from the cubs down here. But this cub was the only one in the whole pride that didn't care one bit.

So what else could I do but follow him?

It was a good thing the red-eyed cub stuck out so much in the crowd, or I never would've found him again. Of course, it did help a bit when most of the other cubs tended to keep the distance from me that one would from someone with a various number of tropical diseases. I didn't say anything, but for some strange reason they all looked like someone had colored them bright red. Must've been all those tropical diseases I had.

Anyway, I managed to keep the red-eyed cub in sight easily enough. After a twenty-foot walk through the simply charming crowd of cubs, I finally caught up with him as he sidled to a halt near a trio of other cubs that looked about as old as him.

_Great. More cubs. I wonder how long it would take to dig out of here…_

"Where the hell'd you run off to?" a pale yellow cub with a wispy blond tuft asked brashly, his hazel eyes focusing briefly on the red-eyed cub before darting over to me. "And who the hell's that?"

"That," the red-eyed cub replied smugly, "is the only lion in the whole pride with enough balls to stand up to the king."

The brown-eyed cub looked away again, a blank stare occupying his face. "He did what now?"

"You didn't see it? Where rock were you hiding under this morning?"

The brown-eyed cub stared for a moment, then cocked an eyebrow and jerked his head over to a pair of dark tan female cubs sitting nearby that were nearly identical save for the opposite patterns of spots under their eyes, both of whom noticed and giggled. The red-eyed cub sighed in response and rolled his eyes with a tiny smirk.

"Well, anyway, this little guy put up a hell of a fight," he continued. "Not to mention, he's already about ready to do the same to every other cub in here."

"So what, you adopting him?"

"I dunno…I like him. He doesn't take crap from anybody, least of all me. And it's not like he's got anybody else."

"Yeah, but you said he attacked Scar…you think Kivuli's gonna-"

"Look, he won't care, all right? And if he does, he's not gonna do anything about it…" The red-eyed cub paused for a moment, then added one last sentence. "You got my back on this, right?"

"Hey, you're the one that's tight with him, not me," his friend grumbled. After a moment's pause and an expectant stare from the red-eyed cub, he rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine, yeah, I got your back. Now you gonna bring him over here and introduce him or just keep him on a leash and make him beg for treats?"

Both cubs turned around, and the one I'd followed jerked his head forward, motioning to me. I hesitated, maybe because I still didn't have a clue what was going on or what it had to do with me. In fact, I was about ready to interrupt them when they finally remembered me again.

"Yep, that's a cold-blooded killer if I've ever seen one," the brown-eyed cub muttered under his breath as I kept my distance. "What is he, six months?"

"Ten," I shot back icily as my fur bristled. "And if you keep talking, that's also the number of claws that'll be stuck in your back in about three seconds."

"Isn't he great?" the red-eyed cub said gleefully as his friend glared at me. "What's your name again, short stuff?"

"Usiku…" I muttered. "Who're you?"

"Well, he's Cheza," the red-eyed cub said with a nod toward his friend. "And the ones sittin' over there with the filed claws and the vacant expressions are Spotty and Dotty."

"Which one's which?"

"Damned if I know…hey, which one of you's Dotty?"

Both of the twins behind Cheza scoffed. "Uh, neither," the one on the left said in a ditzy, indignant voice. "We're Kushoto and Kulia. Duh."

"Cheza, which one's Dotty?" the red-eyed cub continued without looking back.

"Kushoto."

"Really?"

"I think."

"Always thought it was the other one…"

"Yeah, I don't really think they care."

"Not for you, at least."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That it doesn't take a genius to figure out what you were doing this morning."

"You were watching?"

"You'll never know."

"Pervert."

"Playboy."

"Thank you."

"Any time."

For a moment, they were both silent. Then the red-eyed cub turned to me.

"That answer your question, short stuff?" he finished innocently, like the last thirty seconds hadn't even happened. My throbbing head begged to differ.

_They're insane. They're all insane._

"Why do you call them Spotty and Dotty?" I asked as my brain spun from their nearly incomprehensible conversation.

"'Cause they are," Cheza chuckled. "No offense, ladies."

"Totally none taken," Kushoto (or Kulia) replied with a seductive smile.

My eyes met the red ones of the other cub. He shrugged and grinned. "Call 'em whatever you want," he said. "Odds are, they won't remember it the next day anyway."

I couldn't help but laugh. Strange as the circumstances of our meeting were, I was actually starting to like this guy. Maybe I wouldn't have to be alone all this time after all. Maybe we really could be friends.

And maybe someday, I'll figure out that things are never ever that simple.

"Who's this?" someone asked in a deep, quiet voice, the kind of voice you would expect to hear right before someone slit your throat. The kind of voice that Scar had. In fact, for a split second I thought it _was_ Scar, until I turned around and saw a gray-eyed male cub with a dark brow and neatly kept thick brown tuft standing behind me and looking right through me at the red-eyed cub, like I wasn't even there. Actually, more like I wasn't important enough to be there.

"His name's Usiku," the red-eyed cub answered without even a trace of fear. "And he's gonna hang with us from now on."

"I don't want him here."

"Kivuli, would you lighten up for a second and just…"

"Just what? This little shit nearly kills my stepfather and you expect me to lead the welcoming parade?"

"Oh, gods, here we go…" Cheza muttered as my head whipped back and forth between the two larger lions on either side of me. Scar was this guy's _stepfather_? And my new "friend" expected me to come within a mile of him?

"You really want to fight me on this, Kivuli?" the red-eyed cub growled. "Because you and I both know who'd win."

"You sure about that?" Kivuli replied, still speaking almost too quietly for me to hear. "You really think Scar's gonna let this slide when he finds out about it?"

"You really think he'll care? He doesn't want to see us any more than we want to see him. Besides, the kid's got guts."

"For what? Trying to kill the king? Because that sure as hell ain't gonna help my chances of…"

A frantic glare from the red-eyed cub silenced Kivuli in an instant. Whatever he had almost said, it obviously wasn't for my ears. I can't be the only one that wants to spit fire when someone does that.

"What?" Kivuli growled, clearly as annoyed at the red-eyed cub's silent interruption as I was. "Why can't I talk about…"

Again, the red-eyed cub cut him off, this time jumping to his feet and yanking him off to the side, completely out of my earshot. Or at least, that's what they thought.

"Did you see him this morning?" the red-eyed cub hissed, briefly flicking his eyes back over at me as Kivuli's expression grew steadily darker. "You want him comin' after _you_ like that?"

"I'd like to see him try…"

"Damnit, Kivuli, just give it a rest! You don't even have to see him if it's so goddamn important. I'm the only guy that's even _talked_ to him today! If I don't do this, he'll probably take off before sunrise tomorrow!"

"If you were smart, you'd let him."

"Don't push me on this, Kivuli," the red-eyed cub muttered in a completely different, more dangerous tone than the one he had used with me. "I don't give a shit about politics, all right? Assuming you do have a shot at being king someday, this kid sure as hell ain't hurt your chances."

"You gotta be kidding me!" Kivuli replied in an indignant whisper. "His father was leading an assassination plot, and he tried to follow through with it. Hell, for all we know, he was the contingency plan all along!"

"Do you ever think _before_ you speak, Kivuli? Gods above, he's ten months old and you think he's a trained assassin? Who the hell would do that kind of thing to a little cub?"

"I'm saying it's possible. And a possible risk should be taken just as seriously as a real one."

"Gods, you sound like your mother…"

"And that's a bad thing?"

"Yeah, kinda…you have noticed she's insane, right?"

"Don't say a word about my mother…and you're one to talk."

"Takes one to know one."

"Why are you so interested in him anyway? You've known him for five minutes and you're acting like he's your brother…"

"I'm interested in him because I want to see this pride survive another decade!" the red-eyed replied in a loud whisper, one that I probably could've heard even if I hadn't been eavesdropping. "We're a dying breed, Kivuli," he continued a moment later, his voice dropping back into a hushed tone. "Your stepdad and us, we're the only ones in this whole kingdom that know you gotta break a few bones to make a meal. Gods, look at Mufasa. He spends his whole reign taking in every weepy-eyed orphan and rogue lion under the sun, and now look where we are! Forty lions, and not even a single one of them with enough balls or brains to last an hour in battle…we're not forty strong, we're forty weak. And now that I find one that isn't, one that thinks first, fights second, and doesn't bother asking questions later, you want me to chase him off? Whose side are you on?"

Kivuli didn't reply. His glare slid over to me once before settling back on the red-eyed cub, who still didn't look fazed at all. If anything, he looked even more confident than before.

"Fine," Kivuli finally spat as he stood up and began to walk away. "Do what you want."

As Kivuli stalked off to the far corner of the cave, the red-eyed cub blew out a relieved sigh. I'd had a feeling he wasn't as unruffled as he'd made it look, and he had just proved me right. But that wasn't what I was thinking about. I was thinking about the fact that, behind it all, I was nothing but a pawn to him. Had he ever even liked me at all? Or was he just the latest lion to see me for what I did and not who I was? Once again, my fur stood up. I didn't need this. I didn't deserve this. In an instant, my mind was made up.

"Glad that's over wi…hey, where ya goin'?" the red-eyed cub asked, somehow finding the nerve to sound a bit confused as I began to shove back through the crowd. I only made it about halfway across the den before I felt his paw on my shoulder.

"What's the matter with you?" he continued as a lopsided attempt at a friendly smile began to gather at the corner of his mouth. "Look, Kivuli talks a big game, but he isn't gonna hurt ya…"

"Oh, he wouldn't, huh?" I snapped back. "Well, that's a relief. I guess since I'm a 'dying breed', he wouldn't want to scare me off, would he?"

The cub's eyes widened. "Oh, sh…you heard all that?"

"I heard all I needed to hear," I growled. "Nice knowing you."

"Wait!" he begged, this time actually managing to sound sincere. "Would you just hold up for a second? I can explain…"

"Good for you. I don't wanna hear it."

"Look, I didn't mean any of that! Hell, I don't even remember half of what I said back there!"

I whipped around one last time, still more pissed off at him than interested in his excuses. "Then why'd you say it?" I demanded. "Why would you tell him I was just like him, that I was just like Scar? Why would you _lie_?"

"You're not gonna understand all of it…"

"Try me," I said in a deep, threatening snarl that I wouldn't have even recognized as my own voice had it not made its infamous first appearance that morning.

The red eyes of the guilty-looking cub stayed focused on mine for a few more seconds, then he sighed and glanced back at Kivuli. "I've known Kivuli for a long time, all right?" he muttered. "His mom took me in a while back, and I guess he's…kinda like my brother or something. And most of the time, he's fine, but after Scar took over a couple days ago…"

I found myself staring into twin pools of deep crimson again. "With the way things are right now, he's next in line for the throne. And at this point, he'll do pretty much anything short of worship Scar if it means he'll get to keep that position."

"So what does that have to do with me?"

"In reality? Nothing. But Kivuli doesn't see it that way. It's no secret that Scar doesn't want you around, and Kivuli's got it in his head that being seen with you will make Scar think he's a traitor. And I know I said he wouldn't kill you, but between you and me, I'd bet on him doing everything but. He could make your life hell if he wanted to…mine too, for that matter."

"You really think he's got that much influence?"

"He does with his mom…and truth is, Scar's her puppet. You know his mom, right? Zira?"

An image of a dirty tan lioness sneering at my dad filled my head, and I had to bite down on my lip to keep from growling. "Yeah, I know her," I muttered darkly as I broke eye contact with the other cub.

"I figured…anyway, I knew that saying all that would get you on his good side, so that's what I did. I didn't mean any of it, but as of right now you and I are the only ones that know that. And if you don't mind, I'd like to keep it that way."

If he thought he could sucker me that easily, he was dead wrong. Maybe Kivuli was that gullible, but not me. "You really expect me to believe you'd do all that for me?" I asked skeptically. "After you've known me for all of ten minutes? After this morning? Why?"

The red-eyed cub let out another deep sigh, and finally I began to wonder if his fake sincerity might actually be real after all. "Because you remind me of me," he said quietly. "Look, I know how it feels when nobody'll even look at you, when they're all too caught up in their own lives to notice yours. For a long time, I was that cub: the one hangin' out on the fringe, never talkin', never really wanting to either. And yeah, Kivuli and Cheza are cool, but there's still all the rest of 'em that don't give a rat's ass about me…about us. So I figured, what the hell…maybe you thought the same as me." Another smile curled across the red-eyed cub's muzzle, but this time it was a perfect crescent instead of an unbalanced smirk. "And I was right."

Well, great. Now what was I supposed to do? I knew deep down he was probably making all of this up just like he did with Kivuli…but at the same time, one of the things he had just said kept repeating in my head: _you remind me of me_. That sounded just like something my dad would've said. And as stupid as it was, I was actually starting to believe what he said. And to be honest, I wasn't entirely sure that I didn't want to.

"So whaddya say?" the red-eyed cub continued, apparently taking my silence as acceptance. "Friends?"

For a long time, I just stared straight into his dark crimson eyes, searching for anything malicious, untruthful, or really anything other than sincerity. And I found nothing at all but honest hope. No lies, no fear, nothing to hide…just a pure, almost brotherly affection. He really did want to be my friend. How about that? Two in one day. Who the heck wanted to sit around in a drafty old lion's den anyway?

I put on a grin of my own to match the other cub's. "Ah, sure," I replied, any thoughts of betrayal or deception melting away as the satisfying warmth of companionship bubbled in my stomach. "Why not?"

A giddy look of delight appeared on the red-eyed cub's face the moment the last word left my lips. "All right!" he practically shouted. "And there's still two hours of sunlight left. Let's get outta here!" Without waiting for a reply, he jumped to his feet and trotted quickly over to where everyone had been staring at me just moments before.

"Well, aren't ya comin'?" he shouted back, sounding more like an excited little cub than a gangly teenager. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, I'm coming," I replied as I started a much more reserved trek back over to the red-eyed cub. And that was when I realized one last thing: I still didn't even know who this guy was.

"Hey, what's your name?" I added, a little bit surprised that it'd taken me this long to remember such a simple detail.

The cub turned around and smiled one last time. His teeth gleamed in the dim light, and his crimson eyes danced.

"My name's Jino," he said with a laugh. "Nice to meet you too."

* * *

**NINE MONTHS LATER**

**Usiku**

_Is that really me?_

The stocky, olive-eyed cub staring back at me from beneath the water's surface didn't answer. He sure _looked _like me, but there were so many subtle differences from the reflection I remembered that I had to take a dozen second glances just to convince myself that I was me. And the strangest part was, I hadn't even noticed the changes.

Maybe it was my eyes, creased into a perpetual scowl that almost seemed to make their dull green irises even duller. Or maybe it was the clump of jet-black mane fur stretching across my forehead and a couple inches down the back of my neck, so much longer and thicker than it'd been the last time I checked. Maybe it was the streaks of dirt wedged into between the coarse, dark hairs on my legs, or the neatly sharpened claws that hardly ever seemed to retract anymore, or the ribs poking through my sides that I had barely even been able to feel before Scar took over.

But most likely, it was all of them together, combining to make one vastly different picture of Usiku. In any case, after nine months of near-exile, I could barely recognize myself. I didn't look anything like my dad, and that made me feel…happy? Sad? Indifferent? Did it even matter anymore?

I sighed and bent down for one last mouthful of water. The watering hole was barely half its old size, reduced to a fraction of its former glory by relentless drought and the wasteful habits of the hyenas. But at least for now, there was still enough to get a drink and see how much you'd changed since your soul was ripped in two and scattered to the winds. Y'know, just normal stuff.

_Maybe it's the company I keep…,_ I thought briefly before I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Company…when was the last time I had even _seen_ any of them? On second thought, when was the last time I had _wanted_ to see any of them? Kushoto and Kulia didn't have a brain cell between the two of them, and Cheza was much too preoccupied with them to be any fun to hang around with. And Kivuli and I had a bit of a special relationship…the "you scratch my back and I won't pull all the bones out of yours with my teeth" kind of relationship. So I didn't see much of him either.

"Hey, Blackheart, what's takin' you so long?"

And Jino…gods, Jino deserved a category all his own. And that wasn't even close to being a good thing.

It wasn't so much that I didn't like him. To be honest, he was the closest thing to a father I'd had in the nine months, and most of the time I more or less thought of him just like that. A couple months in, I even let him start using my dad's old nickname for me, so to me it was almost like he _was_ my dad. And most of the time, he played the role perfectly. He'd taught me how to hunt, how to slash so quickly in a fight that your opponent couldn't even see you move (though I never got quite as fast as him), how to catch a fish (when we could find one) with just patience and bare claws, and most of all how to not give a damn about what anybody else thought of you. If anybody in the pride could've been mistaken for rogues, it was us. Nobody gave us a second glance, and we hardly noticed if they did. And I guess I was happy with that.

But then sometimes, and generally without warning, Jino would disappear. Not like he'd run off and I couldn't find him, but like the friendly, fun lion I hung out with would change into someone entirely different. It was a month after we met when I first noticed it: I was going on about some cave I'd found out in the grasslands, and the next thing I knew my ears were ringing from his suddenly furious voice telling me to shut up and quit acting like such a happy little brat. I spent the rest of the day alone, a little bit confused and a lot terrified about whatever I'd done to make him so angry, but that night he came up to me and practically begged me to forgive him. He told me that he didn't hate me and he didn't think I was a brat, and he said that sometimes when he got angry with someone else he took it out on whoever was closest. I didn't know what to think (I was still only eleven months old), so I forgave him and just hoped it won't happen again.

Of course, it did happen again, at least once a week and sometimes more. And every time it happened, it took me longer and longer to forgive him. But the weird thing was, I always did. He would be mad as all get out, but then just a few hours later he would always apologize and beg me for another chance. And I always gave him one.

I knew I was making a mistake, but then other times I wouldn't be so sure. I guess the real reason I didn't just tell him I didn't want to be friends anymore was because he was really the only friend I had, even if he did go a little psycho sometimes. Besides, everybody got mad every once in a while. This was just his way of dealing with it. And I believed that for a long time. It was only a couple months ago that I realized that his fits of anger were almost never that predictable. So the question was no longer what was causing his moods; nowadays, it was just what I needed to do to get away from them when they appeared.

His eyes were how I knew when to avoid him: whenever he went into one of his moods, they would glaze over a bit and glow with some deep, powerful fire that made it look like he didn't even know I was there. As the months rolled by, I got so good at reading his emotions that I ended up teaching myself how to read some of the other cubs too. Cheza was easy; the only thing I ever saw in his eyes was either boredom or lust, depending on whether Spotty and Dotty were around at the time. Reading Kivuli, on the other hand, was like trying to read the clouds and predict what the weather would be. Sometimes it was obvious, but other times I guessed totally wrong and generally paid for it with a stinging rebuke of either words or claws. Most of the time, it was claws. But every fresh cut or bruise only taught me one more thing about him, showed me one more facet of his personality or one more weakness he had. So by the time I found myself out by the watering hole that day, I knew that Kivuli had a crooked claw on the third toe of his right forepaw, the ability to bottle up his anger and focus it into one single devastating attack instead of several smaller ones, and a tendency to blink a lot and keep direct eye contact whenever he was about to unleash that attack. I knew that Kivuli was a natural leader, but also a proud one, and one that had a deeply hidden sensitive side that he never showed except for a brief moment taken every morning and night to watch the sunrise and sunset. I knew that he lived by the words of his mother, Zira, and was fiercely loyal to both her and anyone that she approved of. I knew he was tough, intelligent, quick on his feet and even more so with his tongue.

And I also knew that his buddy Jino, despite being my only friend and probably the most important lion in my life right now, was completely insane. And that I was the only one that knew exactly how much.

A rustling crash revealed the presence of Jino behind me. That was one of the things I could never understand about him: he could be really quiet when he wanted to, but most of the time he didn't even bother. That's Jino for you, I guess.

"C'mon, lightning head…" the bigger red-eyed lion said with a smirk. "You stare at yourself any longer, you're gonna go blind."

"You're hilarious," I replied in a monotone. "Who lit a fire under your tail, anyway?"

"More like lit a fire in my stomach…you do realize we haven't eaten yet today, right?"

"You mean there's actually food today?"

"Couldn't hurt to check. At this point, I'm about ready to eat _you_."

Jino grinned and laughed, and I couldn't help but join in. Not so much about his joke, but more over the fact that I couldn't really be sure he wasn't serious. With Jino, it was kinda hard to tell sometimes.

By the time we made it back to the den, the sun was languishing right at the top of the sky. Or at least, I think it was. It'd been so long since the sun's rays had poked through the thick blanket of clouds above our heads that if it weren't for the sweltering heat, I would've thought the bright yellow ball wasn't even up there at all. That, combined with the fact we hadn't had even a drop of rain since the twin thunderstorms on the first two nights of Scar's reign, meant that nearly all of the herds had moved on to better territory, and that meant that most of the time we only got one meal a day, if that. In other words, for the most part life pretty much just sucked all around.

Jino found Cheza and Kivuli quickly enough. Ever since the heat waves had started baking the soil beneath our feet, everyone tended to avoid the Undercroft (which was what we had started to call the caves underneath the promontory by then) at all costs. You'd think the shade would draw every lion in the pride in, but something about the layout of the place made it even hotter inside than it was out in the open air. Because of that, Jino, Kivuli, Cheza, and I generally had the Undercroft to ourselves from dawn until dusk.

"Hey, Che," Jino muttered, getting a nod from the brown-eyed lion opposite him in reply. Even with the drought and the heat, Cheza still managed to look like the picture of health. His tan mane was straight and free of any dirt or burrs, and even had a slightly windswept look to it that I knew was intentional. I thought it looked stupid, but apparently Kulia and Kushoto didn't think so judging by all the time they spent around him. At the moment, though, they were gone for once.

"Anybody manage to get some grub?" Jino continued.

Cheza scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Why d'you think I don't have two lionesses hangin' on to my every word right now?" he replied in what almost sounded like a grumble. "The hunt's been the first time I've been able to hear myself think in a week."

"Aw, is all that attention stressing you out?"

"Gee, I don't know. Have _you_ ever tried to sleep in blistering heat with a couple of howler monkeys sittin' next to you?"

"They're really that bad?"

"Well, I mean, they're hot and all, but I never get a moment of peace, y'know? A guy can only take so much lovin' before he needs some personal time."

"Aiheu have mercy on your poor, mistreated soul…" Jino shot back dryly. "So that's a no for food, then?"

"We haven't have food in ages, man…the hell makes you think today'll be any different?"

"Optimism. Currently, the same optimism you're shattering into a million pieces."

"Well, excuse me for not breaking into song…"

As Jino and Cheza's argument intensified, I turned away to face Kivuli for a moment. The dark-eyed, brown-maned lion was watching his two comrades with what looked like boredom, but what I knew was actually rapt attention. In the last nine months, he'd gotten even more paranoid about his position as heir, and as a result he had started practically spying on us lately, taking anything that might possibly be considered dissent straight to his mother, who in turn would tell it to the king. Between him and the hyenas, you could hardly even go take a piss without half a dozen eavesdroppers knowing about it.

At least there was some good that came of it, though. With all three of the other cubs in the den occupied in one way or another, there was no one to keep me from wandering off into the grasslands for some personal time of my own. The heat was constantly sapping my strength, and I found myself taking long naps almost every day, mostly for lack of anything better to do.

As quietly as I could, I turned around and started to slip off, already flashing through a multitude of possible spots to doze off in. But before I could even take two steps, something else stopped me.

"Usiku?" someone asked in a high-pitched and slightly wispy voice that I instantly knew didn't belong to any of the three lions behind me. I turned my head and saw a slightly built lioness standing a few feet away. Her whitish-tan fur was much cleaner than mine, and her bright yellow eyes were gazing directly into mine with a passive yet determined expression. Almost immediately, I had the strangest feeling that I knew her from somewhere. When I finally remembered a second later, the recognition was almost enough to knock me over.

"Jua?" I whispered, my shock deepening when the smaller cub nodded once. _Jua…_, I thought slowly. _Gods above, I didn't even recognize my own sister!_ Now that I thought about it, though, it wasn't all that surprising that it'd taken me a moment to connect the young lioness in front of me with the bouncy little cub I remembered from my childhood. She'd grown a lot in the past nine months (though she was still small for her age), and her eyes had lost a lot of the natural joyfulness that had practically spilled out of them when she was younger. And it also didn't help that this was literally the first time I had seen her in those nine months. And to be honest, that fact alone shocked me more than anything else. I'd really been ignoring her and Mom for that long?

"What are you doing here?" I managed to ask with a shake of my head, still a bit dazed from the sudden reappearance of my past.

"I…I wanted to talk to you," she mumbled a bit sadly. "I haven't seen you in a long time…"

"Who's this?" Jino asked, materializing behind me without any warning at all. See what I mean about him being quiet?

"It's…"

Suddenly, I found myself hesitating. Why didn't I want Jino to know about my own sister?

"It's Jua. She's my sister," I finished a moment later, deciding that I was just being paranoid.

"Oh, right, your sister," he muttered in a pensive tone loud enough for everyone to hear. "The one that abandoned you and never bothered to even look your way for nine months."

My mouth began to open in protest, but a second later it fell closed again. I hadn't seen her in nine months…I had always thought it was just because I was avoiding her. But if it had lasted nine months, did that mean she had been avoiding _me_ too?

"It's not like that, Usiku," Jua pleaded, drawing my attention back to her. "Please, I just want to talk…"

"Save your breath," Jino snarled, his sudden anger taking me a bit by surprise. "He doesn't want to talk to you. Let's go, Blackheart."

Jua's eyes widened. I think it was because of Jino calling me 'Blackheart'. I guess she knew how special that nickname was even when she was five months old. And I guess that, more than anything, was what prompted me to ignore Jino for the first time in a long time.

"What did you want to talk about?" I said, already feeling Jino's death glare on the back of my neck. For my sake, I hoped this would be quick.

"About…about Dad," she replied. "I know that you really miss him. Mom and I do too. But then you disappeared, and I couldn't find you…"

"Oh, you couldn't, huh?" Jino interrupted. "And might I ask where _you _were this whole time?"

Jua shied away a bit, already unnerved by the presence of my friend. She still answered him, though. "A couple of the other lionesses took me away…"

Jino snorted. "You hear that, Blackheart? Little Miss Perfect here gets all the attention she wants…how long did it take you to forget he existed?"

"I didn't!" she said desperately. "I wanted to go look for him, but they wouldn't let me!"

"For nine months…must be some strong lionesses."

"I couldn't go then either! Because…"

"Because what?"

"Because I was taking care of Mom!" Jua shouted, raising her voice at me for the first time in my life. "Like _you_ weren't!"

For a few seconds, no one spoke. Jua looked like she had regretted her words almost before they finished echoing around the empty Undercroft.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you, Usiku," Jua said. "I'm not mad at you, I just…it's just been me and Mom all this time, and she's still really sad and I don't know if it's because of Dad or because I'm doing something wrong…"

I stared, a horrible and unfamiliar sensation of guilt gnawing at my stomach. Jua looked and sounded like she was about to cry.

"She misses you, Usiku," she continued. "I miss you too. We're not mad about you not wanting to see us, and I'm so sorry I never came to see you…but she's crying all the time now, and I…I miss my big brother."

Jua met my eyes again, hers filling with tears for a moment before she blinked them away. "Please, 'Siku…just come back. I want my brother back."

Once she finished, Jua stared at me for another second or two, then bit her lip and glanced down at the floor.

"Jua…" I started to say, before I coughed and swallowed hard. I hadn't even noticed my mouth had been hanging open the whole time she'd been talking, and now my throat was nearly raw. "Jua, I…"

"Oh, c'mon, Blackheart…you're smarter than that," Jino interrupted once again. "She just wants to get your mom off her back and onto yours. Let's just go already."

I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment and tried to think about Jua's proposal. But no matter how hard I tried, Jino's voice kept popping up in my mind every time I thought about Mom or Jua. I didn't think Jua would be that shallow, but somehow everything he said seemed to make just as much sense as everything Jua said in return. Who was right?

"Jua, can we just…talk about this later?" I said, feverishly hoping that she would understand and give me more time to figure this out. But instead of understanding, she just shook her head and set her feet.

"I'm not leaving," she said firmly. "Not until you give me an answer."

"I got an answer for you," Jino snapped. "How does 'no' sound?"

"Jino, would you just give me a second?" I muttered frantically. My head was starting to throb.

"A second for what? Gods above, she's _playing_ you. Can't you see that?"

Now I could both hear and feel every single beat of my heart inside my skull.

"'Siku…"

My temples were on fire…

"C'mon, Blackheart…just get rid of her and we can go…"

"How, Jino?" I finally snapped as I whipped around to face him. "How the hell am I supposed to get her to leave?"

Jino shrugged, then met my eyes. When he spoke, it was with an innocent inflection, like he was talking about the weather.

"Hit her."

It wasn't his suggestion of how to deal with Jua that surprised me. When Jino got in one of his moods, his first tactic was almost always violence. That wasn't surprising at all. But what really sent me reeling, what made my jaw drop open and nearly all the breath slip out of my lungs was the look in his eyes. Because immediately after he said that, I returned his stare and searched there for the slightly maniacal look that would always be present when Jino went off the deep end. If I saw that look in his eyes, I'd know this whole thing was just a phase he would snap out of in a couple hours. If I saw that, I would know exactly what was going on. If I saw that, I would know exactly what to do.

But when I looked in his eyes, I didn't see anything other plain, normal, everyday Jino. And that, more than his insanity ever could, scared the living crap out of me.

"Wha…"

"You heard me. Hit her. Show her exactly what you think of her."

I turned around slowly. Jua hadn't run away. If anything, she looked even more determined than before.

"They abandoned you, Blackheart. And I didn't. I stayed. And now you want to give all that up? You want to be alone again?"

My spine twitched involuntarily. My headache was back.

"I'll give you ten seconds, Usiku," Jino said without a trace of sympathy. "Then I'm outta here."

Ten seconds. Ten seconds till the end of the world, and I was letting it happen.

"One."

Jua was staring straight into my eyes. She never blinked. Neither did I.

"Two."

My head was pounding fit to burst. Nine months. I hadn't seen her in nine months. And whose fault was that?

"Three."

I had never sought them out…and they hadn't done a thing about it. Nine months.

"Four."

My stomach twinged. Something was down there, creeping up my throat and into my heart. Something heavy. Something black.

"Five."

_They abandoned you_, _Blackheart_.

"Six."

Jino didn't abandon me.

"Seven."

He was insane. And I was insane for knowing it and not caring. But he never abandoned me. He cared about me. But Jua cared about me too.

"Eight."

The pulse in my head had reached a crescendo. Whose was to blame? Who was right? Was anybody right?

"Nine…"

All of a sudden, time slowed to a crawl. I don't know how, but for one second everything just froze in place, and I saw it all. I saw Jino next to me, expectant as always. I saw the grasslands outside, burnt beyond recognition by heat and loss and the kind of fire that doesn't light, only burns. I saw darkness, inside and out.

And I saw Jua's eyes, filled with nothing but trust.

"Te-"

I don't remember it happening. No matter how hard I try, no matter how many times I replay that entire horrible day over and over again, I can't remember the exact moment when my paw connected with Jua's face. But I remember the blackness, in that frozen second poised right above my heart, finally crashing down as that last word left Jino's lips. And I remember the moment after, when the world stopped spinning just as I came back into it. Just as my face bent out of the snarl it had taken on. Just as my paw, claws unsheathed without me even realizing it, finished its journey across the void between my past and my future. Just as a single drop of bright red blood, thrown from a crescent-shaped scratch running all the way from her ear down to her nose, splashed against the ground a foot away.

Just as I saw her eyes fill with soul-crushing tears.

And isn't it ironic that the moment where my soul should've been destroyed was the same moment I gained it back?

A choked sob shattered the spellbinding silence inside the Undercroft only seconds after it began. Without another word, Jua turned and sprinted away, never once looking back at me. I watched her go in silence, half of me still trapped in what I'd done just a moment before and the other half wanting to scream myself hoarse after her. But nothing ever came out. I just sat there and watched as my sister slipped further and further away, until all I could see was her tail snaking through the parched grass of the Pridelands.

And then she was gone.

"See? How hard was that?" someone commented in a bored voice. "Now can we go?"

And Jino didn't even care.

Suddenly, I felt sick, my stomach twisting into a knot that only got tighter every time I thought about what I'd done. The darkness was gone again, just like last time. Staying long enough to destroy, then vanishing without a trace. Was that all I was? All I did?

My paws were moving long before I realized it. And then I was sprinting, so fast that the wind flattened my ears back and brought tears to my eyes. But not fast enough. Never fast enough to escape.

I'd ruined everything. My sister would never speak to me again. Neither would Jino. Neither would anybody else.

I was alone. I lived in a pride of forty lions, and I was alone. And now I finally knew that that would never ever change.

* * *

It was nearly midnight by the time I stopped running. Aiheu only knew where I was...far away enough that Pride Rock was just barely visible on the horizon. I was probably right on the border of the Pridelands. Hell, I might've even crossed it by then. Aside from me, there was no one else in sight.

How appropriate.

Briefly, I wondered whether anybody had noticed I was gone. Probably not. It wasn't like anyone really noticed if I was there to begin with. Except Jino would've…

Without warning, my claws shot out, and I had to bite down hard to keep from screaming with rage. Even just thinking about him brought the darkness back in full force with hardly a second's delay, but just as soon the fire inside my belly went out and the tinge of red drained out of my eyes, replaced by stinging drops of moisture. I sighed and squeezed them shut, my stomach starting to hurt again. What was once only unpredictable was now uncontrollable. In a few days, I'd probably be as crazy as Jino.

With some last reserve of energy, I dragged myself a bit farther, finally collapsing for good next to a small lake hidden behind the ridge of grass I had stopped in front of. I weakly lapped up a few mouthfuls, then licked my muzzle dry and stared down at my paws. The water was shallow enough to see down to the murky bottom, but I was more interested in the darker image floating a few inches above, distorted and twisted by the ripples I had created moments before. Earlier that day, I had barely recognized my reflection. Now, I didn't recognize it at all.

I don't really even know why I hit her in the first place. I guess between Jino and her and the darkness, I just lost control. I wanted everybody to just shut up. And instead of even managing that, I'd just screwed things up worse than I ever had before.

Suddenly, I found myself flashing back to the last time I had been at the border. That last peaceful, perfect day with my dad. What would he think if he could see me now? Was he watching me now? Was he disappointed in me?

Because I sure was.

It'd taken me nine months to realize what I'd be doing all that time. I'd been avoiding everyone because they didn't know what to do about me. They didn't want to intrude on my grief, and I called them cowards for it. And all this time, the only coward in the whole damn pride was me. I abandoned the only family I had left for a deranged psychopath, all because I was too afraid that they wouldn't want to see me, like all the others. And what had I just done?

Ruined everything, is what. Well, at least now there was nothing to worry about. They didn't want to see me. No worries. Hakuna freaking matata.

When I opened my eyes, my reflection was still hidden behind what looked like a fresh set of ripples. I was confused, until a second shuddering circle began to expand from a spot right under my nose, right where a single drop of warm water had dripped off my muzzle and fallen into the lake below. I sighed again and let my eyelids close, but not fast enough to stop a third tear from slipping out and dropping down to join its brothers with a faint splash.

"Peaceful, isn't it?"

I jumped to my feet the instant the quiet voice rang out, nearly tripping into the water behind me when one of my paws slipped. Once I got my feet under me, I looked up and saw a tall, lithe figure standing just beyond the grass line, their face still cloaked in shadow.

"It's hard to find a quiet spot these days," the shadow continued, tilting her head down to stare at me. "You're fine, by the way. It's not my watering hole any more than it is yours, Usiku."

I stared, blinking hard in the dim light. I knew that voice.

With an air of practiced fluidity, Sarabi detached herself from the shadows and came down to sit next to me by the water's edge. For a long moment, neither of us said a word, her gaze focused off in the distance and my heart still pounding a bit from her sudden appearance. Then, all of a sudden, she spoke up again.

"I used to come here all the time," she said. I couldn't tell whether she was talking to me, so I didn't reply. "Mufasa and I would sneak away and sit right on this bank, and just talk the night away," she continued a second later. "It was right after he first took the throne…he was always so busy, but no matter what was going on he'd always find time to come out here with me. It was our place of solitude, the one place in the whole Pridelands where nothing could touch us."

Sarabi sighed briefly. "Nowadays, it's not quite the same. What with Scar and the hyenas, I don't get much time to myself anymore. But whenever I can, I come out here and sit by the lake and remember how things used to be. And sometimes, when the stars come out, I feel like Mufasa's right here next to me again. And I feel better."

She turned to me. "Did you and your father ever have a place like that, Usiku? One that no one else knew about?"

I turned away slowly and stared over at the opposite shore. Did I have somewhere I always went with my dad? Where _didn't_ I always go with my dad? I waited for a moment longer, then shook my head slightly.

Sarabi nodded, then looked out over the water again. "I see. But you were close to him, weren't you?"

_I was._

I nodded, the motion just as small as my previous answer.

"Do you miss him, Usiku?"

I didn't know how to answer. Nine months ago, I would've said yes without batting an eye, but now…when was the last time I had even thought about my dad? My real dad, not the false one I had let take his place for almost half my life. So now that Sarabi had asked, I thought back to nine months ago, when he was alive. I tried to remember the lion that had raised me and protected me and loved me as his son.

And I couldn't.

I couldn't remember my dad.

I couldn't remember who he was, or what he looked like, or anything he did. I couldn't…can't. Can't remember. Can't…

No.

His name was Jabari.

His name was Jabari, and he had a big fluffy brown mane and big, strong paws and a lopsided grin and golden eyes that glowed in the sunlight and a laugh that made you smile even bigger than he was. And he was brave, and smart, and loyal, and he loved me more than life itself. Enough to do anything for me. Enough to die for me. He was everything I'd ever had, ever known, ever needed. He was my father.

And I had forgotten him.

The first shuddering sob slipped out of my throat almost before I felt it rise up from my chest. And the next thing I knew, Sarabi had wrapped her forepaw around me and pulled me close, squeezing me in next to her like I was her own cub instead of an outcast. Just like a parent would. Just like my dad always did. Before I knew it, I was crying even harder than before.

"Let it out," Sarabi whispered, bending down to gently nuzzle the top of my head. "Let it out."

And I did. I let everything out. All the rage and pain that I'd kept bottled up ever since my dad's death came rushing straight to the surface, and just as quickly was released into the night, soaking into Sarabi's fur and dripping onto the ground beneath my quivering paws. I'd been trying so hard to hold everything inside, to stay strong so I didn't have to admit that I was scared, and lonely, and that all I wanted in the world was to have my dad back. And for nine months, all of that had been weighing down on me, crushing me and changing me. But with every heaving sob, I felt a pound of that weight lift off and fly away, so that by the time I ran out of tears and just sat there with my forepaws clamped around Sarabi's stomach, I felt light enough to fly off with it. I was free again. I was alive again. I was Usiku again.

"I knew this was what you needed," I heard Sarabi murmur as she began to rub her paw softly up and down my back, drawing a surprisingly high-pitched purr from deep within my chest. "And I should've done it sooner. But if I had just offered you help, you wouldn't have taken it, would you?"

Sarabi's backrub was starting to lull me to sleep, but I still managed to smile and shake my head. Sarabi grinned too. I guess she was happy that I was happy.

"I thought so…I was the same way for a bit when Mufasa and Simba died. I didn't want anyone's sympathy or condolences…I just wanted to be left alone." Sarabi chuckled quietly. "Lucky for me I had Sarafina to help me snap out of it…"

"What did she tell you?" I asked, shifting a bit to look up at her.

"Well, first, she smacked me across the face…" Sarabi muttered in reply. "But then she helped me realize that she was still there for me, and so was everyone else. All they wanted to do was help."

Sarabi's eyes were boring into mine, but I found that I didn't mind at all. "That's all they wanted to do for you too, Usiku. And when you attacked Scar and then us, they weren't sure whether _you_ wanted it. So they left you alone." Sarabi sighed again. "I tried to fix that mistake…I guess I didn't try hard enough."

"You did fine," I said with another smile. "I was the one who attacked…"

I was the one who attacked them.

I attacked Scar.

I attacked Jua.

Jua. Oh, gods above, _Jua_.

"Jua!" I almost shouted, squirming out of Sarabi's grasp and scrambling to my feet as her eyebrows shot up.

"What?" she asked frantically. "What happened to Jua?"

Almost in a single breath, I explained everything that had happened earlier that day. Sarabi didn't say a word the whole time, but I could tell from her body language she was a bit shocked by what I had done. Join the club, Sarabi.

"…and so now I gotta go find her and tell her I'm sorry or she'll never forgive me and I'll never see her again!" I finished, sucking in a huge gasp of air once the last word left my lips. For a few seconds, Sarabi stayed quiet, then she blinked twice and let out a deep sigh.

"Well, I can't say I approve of what you did…" she said a bit sternly, my ears flattening and my head turning down at her disapproving tone. "But I'm glad you've decided to try and fix your mistake. Don't try to make any excuses for your actions, though. If she's going to forgive you, she has to know you're truly sorry."

"I am," I answered without hesitating. "Really."

Now she smiled again. "I know you are. Now go. I think I saw her out by the watering hole near Pride Rock when I left."

I grinned back, and without another word I spun around and took off towards the huge shadowy monolith in the distance. But before I reached the grass line, I remembered one last thing.

"Hey, Sarabi?" I called out, waiting for her to make eye contact with me before continuing. "Thank you. For everything."

The former queen's grin got wider. "You're welcome, Usiku. Now get out of here."

I chuckled and nodded, then started running again. Maybe I really could still fix everything. All I had to do was find Jua. And then, everything would be right again.

* * *

I don't have a clue what time it was when I finally made it back to the main watering hole in the Pridelands. That was one of the suckier parts about the constantly overcast sky that had become the norm lately: with the moon and sun almost always blocked out, it was nearly impossible to tell where they were in the sky, or sometimes even which one was there. Judging by how my legs were dragging and my eyes were drooping, it was probably a couple hours past midnight.

I took a moment to catch my breath and look around once I reached the water's edge. Sarabi said she was there earlier, but I couldn't see anything alive anywhere near the place. With a frustrated sigh, I started trotting along the shore, the wet sand sticking in between my paw toes and slowing me down considerably.

And then, there she was, lying a few feet away from the water and just inside the ridge of grass bordering the shrunken lake. She didn't move at all even when I was only a couple feet away, so I decided to make my presence felt.

"Jua?" I whispered as compassionately as I could. "You awa…"

My sister's head snapped around the instant I began to speak, and my stomach twisted into two separate knots for both the red rings around her eyes and the still clearly visible scratch on the side of her face. The cut wasn't bleeding anymore, but it still looked pretty painful. And I knew that the physical pain was probably the last thing on her mind.

"Jua, I'm…" I started to say, already beginning to work out my apology. But before I could even finish one sentence, Jua stood up, glared at me with enough hatred to singe my eyebrows clean off, then turned around and walked away.

It took me a couple seconds to register what had just happened, but as soon as I did I practically sprinted after my quickly vanishing sister. "Jua, wait!" I shouted as I started catching up to her. "Please, I just…"

With a tiny snarl, Jua whipped around again and stared me down again, sending me skidding to a halt only inches from her nose. "_Go away_!" she shouted, her fur bristling and her eyes crumpled into an angry scowl.

"Jua, I'm sor…"

"No, I don't care, Usiku," she interrupted. "All I wanted was to get you to stop thinking only about yourself and come see us again, and all I got for it was _this_!" She raised a paw and pointed to her newly acquired scar, sending another horrible shudder down my spine. "I wanted to help you, Usiku. And instead of letting me, you want to hang out with that creep?"

"No, I don't! Not anymore…"

"Oh, now you don't," she growled. "Now you want everything to be perfect again…well, guess what, Usiku? Everything _isn't_ perfect!" Jua's voice cracked as it rose to a shout, and she quickly fell silent again, her eyes beginning to fill with tears with what I knew wasn't the first time that night.

"Just go away," she mumbled sadly. Without another word, she turned around again and started walking back toward Pride Rock again. I was losing her.

_No, no, NO!_

"Jua, please!" I begged, desperation giving my voice an extra burst of strength. It didn't matter, though, because when Jua turned around for the last time she didn't even notice it.

"_I said go away!_" she screamed, tears flowing freely out of both her shining yellow eyes. "I don't want to see you ever again, don't you get it?"

_No…oh gods, it can't end like this, please…_

As Jua started to back away, I panicked. In a single motion, I leapt forward and grabbed her foreleg, praying that she would only listen for a second longer. But before I could force the words around the gigantic lump in my throat, she shoved me away with another angry sob, sending me careening away into the rough grass bordering the path. By the time I hit the ground, she was already gone.

In that moment, I lost all hope for the future. I was better, I was the old me again…but what did it matter if I had no one left to care? Jua was the only lifeline I had left; without her, I was less than nobody. Without her, I was betraying Dad all over again. And the knowledge that that was my future now was nearly enough to stop my heart cold. And to be honest, at that moment I'm not sure how much I would've minded if it had.

She was gone. She probably couldn't even hear me. But it was bubbling and frothing just beneath the surface, and finally I knew I just had to let it out.

"_I'm sorry, Jua!_" I bellowed at the top of my lungs, my vision beginning to blur for the millionth time that day. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you! I'm sorry you were always alone, and I'm sorry I never wanted to see you, and I'm sorry I'm such a horrible brother!"

No reply. I kept going.

"I know I screwed up everything today, and I know it's too late to change anything I did. But I don't wanna be that lion anymore. I want to change. And I need you, Jua. I need you to help me, and I need you to show me how to be like you…and most of all, I just need you to be my little sister. I don't wanna be alone anymore."

Still nothing. Might as well finish it out.

"I love you, Jua," I called out weakly, the last remnants of my strength dissolving into utter hopelessness. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"

My head hit the ground hard, but I hardly felt it. Instead of darkness or sadness, I felt something else, something that I hadn't felt since the day my dad died: emptiness. Dad was gone, Jino had never even been there…and now Jua was gone too. What was there even left worth saving now?

I let my eyes fall closed for the last time. In a millisecond, I had the rest of my life planned out. If someone came to get me, I would go back to Pride Rock and live out the rest of my life. If not…so be it.

And then of course, when I had everything all planned out, fate had to go and screw it up again. Only this time, I didn't mind one bit.

I had hardly even closed my eyes all the way when I felt something cold on the back of my neck. I cracked my eyelids apart and blearily turned around, almost ready to cry with relief when I saw who was standing behind me.

"You…you meant all that, right?" Jua whispered, her own tears beginning to dry up as mine began to appear again. "Everything you said a minute ago?"

The biggest, sappiest smile I've ever let anywhere near my face spread all over it as soon as I heard that. "From the bottom of my heart," I replied with a giddy mix between a laugh and a sob. With a shy smile of her own, Jua came a bit closer and bent down to nuzzle me again. Which, conveniently enough, put her just close enough for me to grab her around the neck and yank her into a hug that would make a python beg for mercy.

"'Siku…" she mumbled into my shoulder. "Can't breathe…"

"Tough," I replied happily, giving her an extra squeeze for good measure. When I finally calmed down enough to let my sister take in a breath, she pulled away a bit but didn't move out from under my forelegs. For the first time since she was five months old, I saw my sister's eyes light up with joy.

"So you're gonna help me, right?" I asked, taking on a serious tone for a brief second. "You're gonna teach me to rejoin society and not think about myself and all that?"

She giggled. "Sure," she replied, nestling herself back into my chest again. "Just try not to hit anybody, okay?"

"Never again," I whispered. "And I'll make sure that goes for everyone else too."

Jua nodded, then yawned and rested her head next to mine, purring softly but just barely loud enough for me to hear.

"I love you, big brother," she mumbled as her eyelids fluttered and closed. I smiled faintly and gave her one last nuzzle before she fell asleep.

"I love you too, sis," I whispered back. "Always."

* * *

**PRESENT DAY**

It wasn't like I hadn't kept my word. It'd been a full week and change since that last day with Jino, and that whole time Jua and I had been inseparable. Every day, she'd help me get a bit closer to overcoming my fear of the crowd inside the Undercroft, and every night I'd try to catch up on everything I'd missed while I was with Jino. I hadn't seen Mom yet, but I wanted to have lots of time to think about how I was going to apologize to her for everything I'd done. It was hard enough just getting Jua to stop hating me, and as effective as it was I was kinda hoping that I wouldn't have to resorting to bawling my eyes out in the middle of a deserted clearing out in the grasslands. That wasn't really all that much fun the first time, honestly.

Only now, it was beginning to look like I might not even get to see her at all. I had been planning on going up to her the night of Simba's return, and what with all the chaos that night I never got a chance to slip away and fulfill that last promise to myself. And as if that weren't enough to keep me up half the night, I still couldn't make myself forget what I'd done to Jua, especially with such a glaring physical reminder. I knew she had forgiven me…the problem was, I still hadn't forgiven myself.

"'Siku…" a slurred voice below me mumbled suddenly. "When did you come over here?"

"Just a minute ago," I answered back quietly. "I was trying not to wake you up."

"Well, you didn't do a very good job of it…" Jua continued, shifting a bit to get a look at my face. "What're you thinking about?"

I sighed. "You. Jino. Mom. All of the above."

Jua gave me a tiny smile. "I already told you, 'Siku: I'm fine. I forgave you for all of that. You're not that lion anymore."

"Yeah, but Mom…"

"Don't worry about her either."

"Why not? I never got to talk to her, and she doesn't even know I want to yet…"

"Well, actually…"

My eyebrows shot up. "You told her?"

"Just that you were with me, and that you wanted to apologize but weren't sure how yet." She shrugged. "I didn't want her to worry."

I sighed again. "Yeah, well, I bet she's worried now…"

"Well, I'm not," Jua replied as she scooted a bit closer. "I've got you to care of me."

"Right," I replied with a grin. "And I've got you to teach me how to take care of you."

Jua smiled and let out a quiet giggle, unconsciously shifting even closer. "Good night, Usiku," she whispered as her breathing began to fall into a steady pattern.

"Good morning, Jua," I whispered back, getting another chuckle for my joke. As my sister gradually fell back asleep again, I found myself yawning as well. Knowing that Mom wasn't entirely unaware that I missed her was a lot more liberating than I would've expected, and that in turn made me finally realize how close I was to keeling over myself. I laid my own head down as well next to Jua, letting the faint whistle of her snores drag me down into Neverland with her.

_Actually, it's not even like Mom's really alone back there, anyway_, I thought with the last little active bit of my brain. _It's just like Sarabi said…everyone else'll want to help. She's got a whole pride behind her._

I cracked my eyes open one last time and glanced out at the watering hole again. _And now, so do I._

My eyelids slipped closed, and a smile curled across my lips. And I'll be damned if that wasn't a nice, warm, bubbly feeling of security I felt in my chest. Guess that little yellow furball knew a thing or two after all. In just a few seconds, I was fast asleep.

* * *

...and three chapters, two and a half months, 36,950 words, and a limited loss of sanity later, we're done with the longest flashback in literary history. Brilliant.

So, what'd you guys think? Personally, I don't think I'm gonna do such a big cutaway like that in the story again...if/when I do another one, I think I'll post it as a separate story. The only reason I kept this one inside the main story is because of all the backstory for Scar and Zira it brought to light...like, say, the fact that Zira had a cub without Scar. That's kind of important, by the way. Or at least, it will be eventually.

So anyway, next chapter is when we get back to Simba and co., so stick around. As always, reviews are appreciated, and I'll try not to take so long with Chapter 16! Until then, Aquaman out.


	19. Chapter 16: The Return

And I quote from Chapter 15, Part 3 of "The Pridelanders": "I'll try not to take so long with Chapter 16!".

Yeah. I know. You don't really need to say it. No, seriously. I get it. Shut up.

Okay, so anyway, I'm finally done with this chapter, and I'm finally going to post something after two and a half months. Normally, I would say some optimistic statement about how AMAZINGLY fast I'm gonna finish the next chapter, but I think I've learned my lesson by now. So here's the deal: the next chapter is the final chapter of Part 1. It's a very short conclusion chapter that will more or less just close out Part 1, which is why I'll be using it to take out the author's note chapter I posted earlier. To make a long story short, it means that you won't be able to review the final chapter if you review this one...but honestly, there won't be much to review about. So, as always, reviews are appeciated.

I was gonna do the song suggesting thing I did last chapter too (although most of you probably didn't see it, since I posted it two weeks late...), but after writing out the scene in question, it doesn't really fit the song as perfectly as I'd anticipated. But if you still want some mood music, the song for this chapter is "Things My Father Said" by Black Stone Cherry. If I have to tell you what part of the story it's for, you might want to see your doctor.

**

* * *

Chapter 16: The Return**

**Simba**

_Simba…_

I was standing in the middle of a massive field of wildflowers that stretched out as far as I could see. Somewhere close by, Nala was calling out to me.

_Come on, Simba…_

I started padding towards the tinkling, echoing sound that seemed to float along on the breeze ruffling the fur on the back of my neck, like some higher being had taken the essence of the flowers beneath my paws and made them speak with one voice. It was twilight, but nothing was in shadow. I was running, but my paws never touched the earth.

And then there she was, standing just a few feet away with a radiant smile spread on her face that made her already bright green eyes sparkle like emeralds. Her creamy fur was spotless and nearly gleaming in the dim but still dazzling sunlight, and her brown-tufted tail was twitching excitedly behind her. I was surrounded by every single one of nature's wonders, but as Nala's eyes met mine and a tingly spike of delight settled in my stomach, I could've sworn I was looking at the most beautiful of all of them.

With a grin and a playful growl, I leapt forward and wrapped my forelegs around her, knocking us into a roll that sent my world into a frenzied spin. Finally, we slid to a halt at the bottom of a tiny valley, with Nala sprawled out on my chest. We both laughed, and her paws slid up my sides until they reached the back of my neck, where they stopped just long enough for her to pull herself back up onto her feet, so that she was standing over me. The same giddy smile was still on her face.

_Simba…_

I could've answered her. I could've talked her ears off about how the sunlight was streaming across her back and shining in her eyes, and how I couldn't imagine a more perfect moment ever occurring in the history of the world. But I didn't, because for once in my life I didn't want to talk to Nala. I wanted her to talk to me, and to stand right there above me and let me look at her forever and ever.

Nala's smile softened, and her lips parted ever so slightly. Slowly, her head began to descend towards mine, our noses steadily getting closer and closer together. My heart thudded against my ribs. Maybe she didn't want to talk. I settled back and closed my eyes, and waited to hear my wildest dreams be fulfilled.

_Simba…_

"Yeah, Nala?" I whispered back, hardly able to keep my anticipation out of the two impassioned words.

_Wake up…_

"I love you t…wait, what?"

_Wake up, Simba…_

_Oh, son of a…_

"Wake up!"

Something thumped hard against the back of my head, blocking off what little of the watering hole I could see with bright white stars. "Ow!" I complained, rubbing my aching skull with a forepaw and squinting at the blurry figure standing in front of me. "Geez, what was that for?"

"Sorry," I heard Nala mumble. "But you've been asleep _forever_!"

Finally, my vision cleared, just in time to see an apologetic grin sneak onto Nala's face. Her fur was dirty and she still looked a bit tired, but her eyes were still just as bright as they had a few seconds ago in my dream, and just that was enough to set my heart pounding again.

"You okay?" she asked a bit worriedly, probably noticing my forepaw still clamped against my head. Or maybe it was the glazed look in my eyes that the bright green pair opposite me had brought on. One of the two.

"I…yeah, I'm fine," I stuttered, shaking my head for good measure. "I'm awake, in any case."

"Good," she continued. "How you'd sleep?"

An image of Nala wrapped up in my forelegs and nuzzling against my neck flashed across my brain, and for some reason that made so much color rush into my face I'm surprised my fur didn't start smoking. Why was I embarrassed? It wasn't like she hadn't…liked it, I guess. And yet, my entire head still remained _en fuego_. Puberty, one; Simba, zero.

"Um…pretty good," I finally replied a moment later, after the heat in my face died down enough for me to pry my eyes open and see Nala's confused look return. "How about you?"

Nala's muzzle split into a secretive but still elated grin. "Pretty good," she answered cheerily as she started to turn away, her eyebrows raised and her tail twitching. Before my still sluggish brain could even begin to interpret that, she was already walking away.

"Oh, by the way, Tama said he wanted to talk to you about something," she called out over her shoulder just before she slipped out of sight. And then she was gone, leaving me practically broiling inside my own skin. Make that two for puberty.

At some point after that (a few minutes, or maybe several days), I remembered Nala's last remark. Tama wanted to talk to me. Probably about what we were going to do next. And assuming I had spent at least a minute staring blankly off at the spot where I had last seen Nala, that meant I probably had another two until Tama got bored with waiting and came looking for me.

Which meant I had about two minutes to figure out what I was going to tell him about what we were going to do next.

I shook my head as I ventured out from under the outcropping, finally succeeding in chasing off the fog inside it. Of course, that still left the fog on the outside to deal with. The mist that had completely enveloped the clearing that morning was still just as thick as it had been a few hours before; in fact, if anything it had gotten worse. Trying to find Tama would be like trying to find a field mouse in a briar patch.

Good thing I didn't have to look very long.

"Simba!" Tama called out from somewhere in the white haze. "I know you're awake! Where are you?"

I don't know why, but somehow the fog made it so I couldn't tell where my best friend was even with the sound of his voice still echoing around me. "I'm over here!" I yelled back in a random direction, hoping that I'd guessed pretty close to where he was. I hadn't.

"You think I heard you?" Tama commented as he walked up from the exact opposite direction I had just shouted in. "Maybe you should try again."

"Glad to see you're feeling well-rested," I grunted back, glaring back at him and getting an amused look and a tiny smile in return. "So, I'm guessing you want to know what my plan is now?"

"Yes, actually," Tama replied, cocking an eyebrow. "And while we're on that subject, I thought I was gonna help you with that whole 'pride leader' thing?"

"You are. I come up with the plans, and you tell me how they won't work," I shot back with a grin of my own. "And then Kima saves us all anyway and Usiku mops up afterwards."

"I'm serious, Simba," Tama said flatly.

"So am I," I chuckled back. My smile faded away as Tama's annoyed scowl bore down on me. "Oh, all right," I continued a moment later, relenting with only a little bit of eye-rolling on my part. "What've you got in mind?"

Tama didn't reply, but he did mutter something angrily under his breath that I didn't quite catch. "What was that?" I asked, starting to get a bit confused about my friend's sudden mood swing.

"I said why don't you come up with the plans!?" Tama snapped suddenly, almost cutting off the end of my sentence. "And I'll screw 'em up, right?"

Okay, make that _really_ confused. "I never said that!" I replied a little defensively. "And I was kidding anyway! I know we have to figure out what to do next, but I wanted to talk to you about it first. Don't you remember what I said yesterday morning? We're in this together, right?"

Once again, Tama didn't answer, instead choosing just to glare at me in complete silence. Like _that_ was helping anything. "Look, I'm sorry I hurt your feelings," I continued with a bit of an aggravated edge to my voice. "But if you're gonna blow up at me every time I make a joke now, I don't know how we're supposed to lead a pride together. So can we please just drop this and forget about it?"

Tama still didn't say a word, and I began to get the feeling that there was something more going on than just me having said the wrong thing. But I couldn't tell what it was, and I knew from experience that trying to drag the real reason out of Tama would probably be akin to beating my head against the rock wall behind me. And given his track record, it was entirely possible that the real reason had absolutely nothing to do with me. So I decided to just drop it and wait for him to cool off on his own.

"We should probably go check on the rest of the pride," I said. "Make sure none of 'em wander off."

Tama gazed straight into my eyes, his expression mostly unreadable except for a lingering air of annoyance. "Yeah," he sighed quickly and heavily, like the single short syllable had been eager to escape his mouth. "We should."

For a long moment, we just stood there staring at each other. Aiheu only knows what Tama was thinking. Me, I was just trying to remember if a more awkward moment had ever happened in my entire life.

"Okay, then," I finally said. "Let's go."

In retrospect, "go" probably wasn't the right word to use there. "Stumble around blindly until Usiku and Jua suddenly appeared about a foot away and scared the living crap out of us" would've been better, I think.

"Well, that wasn't creepy at all," Usiku remarked in a bright tone, referring to how Tama and I had just materialized seemingly out of thin air, pretty much exactly like he had done to us. "Nice weather we're having, huh?"

"No kidding," I sighed back as my pulse began to slow down again. "How's your leg feeling?"

"Little bit better…stings like all get out, but at least I can walk all right now."

"Well, it doesn't look like you gonna need it much for a while anyway," Tama commented in a monotone, casting a weary-looking glance around him. "'Cause we aren't going anywhere till this fog clears out."

"I'll second that," I added quickly, still hoping to get Tama back on my good side. "Besides, we still need to figure out where to go."

I fell silent as Usiku looked from me to Tama and back again, curiosity shining in his eyes. He'd been there for thirty seconds, and he had already figured out something was up. Of course.

_How does he do that?_, I wondered for the hundredth time. Once again, I wished that he had just opened up the night before when I was trying to help with his leg, instead of leaving me in the dark. If it'd been Nala, she wouldn't have shut up…but Usiku still wasn't talking, and it was driving me nuts not knowing.

"Okay, so we're staying," Usiku finally said. He must've either given up on figuring us out or, more likely, had already done so. "You planning on telling the other guys that anytime soon?"

"Yeah, lemme go find…" I began to say before trailing off the instant I turned around and remembered the giant gray cloud hanging all around us. I'd be lucky if I could find my own paws out there.

_This would be so much easier if I could roar_, I grumbled to myself. But as the thought occurred to me, I began to wonder whether it might actually be possible after all. I hadn't even tried in months…and I was a year and a half old now. Who was to say I couldn't get a decent roar going?

I took a few steps forward, an intoxicating spark of excitement beginning to burrow into my chest. I could already hear the roar echoing in my ears, loud enough to knock the fog right back into the sky. I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, gathering up all my strength in the back of my throat. Breathe in, breathe out. Imagine the roar. Feel the roar. _Be _the roar.

Finally, I just couldn't hold it in any longer. I set my feet, thrust out my chest, sucked in one last huge breath, and…

"Hey! Everybody get over here!"

My powerful, awesome, tremendous roar dissolved into a sigh of frustration. As the shuffling sound of pawsteps began to waft through the fog, I looked around and faced Usiku, whose loud shout was still reverberating around us.

"Impatient much?" I asked in a growl.

"Very," he replied nonchalantly. "Hope you don't mind."

I shook my head and turned back around, vowing silently to practice roaring on my own later. Most of the Pridelanders had already found us by then, and before too long I was surrounded by a semi-circle of ragged, but refreshed cubs. As Nala came to stand by me, I did a quick head count. And almost immediately, I noticed a gap in the crowd. Of course someone was missing. Why wouldn't someone be missing?

"Where's Uruzi?" I asked Tojo, who just shrugged by way of reply. Everyone else did the same. I was about ready to send out a search party when a surprised yelp rang out from a few feet away, followed almost immediately by a rippling splash. A few seconds of silence later, Uruzi finally joined the rest of us and sat down with a huff, soaking wet from her chest down.

"Did you know there's a lake over there, Uruzi?" Usiku said with a completely straight face. Uruzi shot him a dirty look, then slid her tongue out and started the long process of drying herself off without saying a word. Everyone's head swiveled back around to me.

"Okay…" I said, devoting every ounce of concentration I had to keeping a straight face. "Now that we're all here, I thought we'd go over what our plan for the next couple days is."

I glanced over at Tama to make sure he was all right with the way the meeting was going, but his face was still unreadable. I decided to be optimistic. "We're out of the Pridelands now, and the hyenas are probably still too disorganized to come very far after us. And with this fog, we're not gonna be going anywhere either. So for now, I think we're just gonna…Tojo!"

At the sound of my raised voice, Tojo ripped his slack-jawed gaze away from Uruzi (who was still cleaning herself) and snapped to attention. "Hey, yeah, I'm here! That sounds great…what're we talking about again?"

I slid a paw over my eyes as Uruzi paused in mid-lick and looked up. "What did he say? Were you _watching_ me?" she screeched, her voice rising higher with each syllable. "What the hell-"

"So for now," I half-shouted, drawing everyone's eyes back to me. "I think we're just gonna stick around here and wait for the weather to clear up. Everyone okay with that?"

"Wait a minute," Uruzi piped up, ignoring (or maybe not noticing) the fact that Tojo was staring at her again. "What if it doesn't clear up? Are we supposed to hunt in this?"

"If it isn't gone by tomorrow, we'll just walk until it is," I answered. "It can't go on forever."

"Wait, you mean…we'll just leave?" Tojo said, finally forgetting about his crush and catching up with us. "I thought we were gonna go live with another pride…"

"Well, we might," I said, beginning to feel the questioning stares of the other cubs bearing down on me. "If we find one, we could stay with them for a while..."

"And when were you planning on telling _us_ that?" Tani said, sounding confused and a little bit angry.

"Well…" Before I could finish, I was cut off by another angry protest. And another. And another. The whole pride was ganging up on me…over this? Over something I thought they all already knew? I tried again and again to calm them down, but no matter how loud I got, they just got louder. Even Nala and I together were no match for my increasingly panicked pride.

But then, something happened that stopped everyone dead in their tracks. It wasn't really a full roar…more like half roar and half pissed-off growl. But whatever it was, it did the trick. Everyone went quiet as ghosts and turned towards the strange noise.

"Let him talk," Usiku said forcefully, his voice still a bit scratchy from what I'm guessing was his first roar. No one felt like arguing, least of all me.

With a silent look of gratitude at Usiku, I started explaining myself. "I know this is a lot to take in right now…but this isn't just something we can just run away from. Scar was going to exile you. You know what that means? It means that instead of having ten other cubs to help you survive, you'd be alone. You, all by yourself, against an entire continent of predators and deserts and thunderstorms even worse than the one last night."

I sighed. "Look, I'm not trying to scare you guys. I'm just giving you the facts. I'm not gonna lie to you. Scar lied to you. He told you that you had to live in the Undercroft because you weren't good enough to be in the den. He told you that you were weak, and that he was strong." I paused for a moment. "He told you I was dead."

Everyone's eyes were wide, but no one looked away. Even Tama looked like he was listening, if not with rapt attention, at least with interest. "Well, I'm not dead," I almost growled. "And I'm not worthless, and I am not weak. And neither are any of you."

I can't really explain the feeling coursing through my body then. It was like my heart was on fire, but instead of sapping my strength it just gave it more. "Yeah, we're gonna be wanderers," I continued, the flames inside my belly licking at the edges of my words. "Yeah, we're gonna have good times, and bad times, and times where you're gonna wonder whether exile wasn't the better choice. But I promise you, no matter what happens…we're gonna get through it. We're gonna stick together, and we're gonna get stronger and faster and tougher, and by the gods, _we will fight back_. I told you guys that we were the future of the Pridelands, and I meant it. Every single lion we left behind three days ago…we're their last hope. Scar told us to give up, and we are the ones that looked him in the eye and said 'I will not bow. I will not give up.' We chose freedom. We chose to fight. And someday, when we're ready…we'll bring that fight straight back to him. And we'll show him exactly how _weak_ we really are."

I stopped to take a breath, and just like that the spell was broken. The fire in my belly vanished, and my jaw clamped shut and stayed that way. I felt exhausted, and even a little bit embarrassed. I hadn't really meant to make such a huge speech about it…but it was too late to do anything about that now. Time to see whether all those words had done any good.

For a few more seconds, the other cubs stayed just as quiet as me. Then finally, a single voice rose up from the crowd.

"So…we are gonna come back someday, right?" Kima asked a bit timidly. "I mean, we're not just gonna keep running forever, right?"

I kept my sigh of relief as quiet as I could manage. "No, Kima," I replied. "We'll never forget about the Pridelands. As soon as we're strong enough and we find another pride to help us, we'll come straight back."

For the first time in my life, I saw Kima's eyes take on a determined glow. "Then I want to help," he said. "I want to be brave and strong like you, and I…I want to fight. I want to help fight Scar, and beat him." With that, he glanced around at his fellow pride-members for a moment, then got to his feet and walked over to my side, where he sat down heavily with his chest still puffed out with bravado. And with a statement like that from the smallest cub in attendance, it wasn't long before everyone else was nodding in assent too. Have I ever mentioned how happy I was that Kima had come with us?

As Nala flashed me a relieved grin and I returned the favor, I felt something nudge my shoulder. I turned around and saw Kima staring expectantly up at me, his serious demeanor already gone. Not that that was really all that surprising.

"Hey, you said we were gonna stay here for a while, right?" he asked excitedly.

I couldn't help but laugh at his sudden change in attitude. "Yeah, we are," I answered. "What, did you want to keep moving?"

"No, no, I'm okay," he continued quickly with a shy glance down at the ground. "But I was just wondering…" He turned his gaze back up to me, his eyes shining with excitement. "Can I go exploring?"

I leveled a stoic gaze at the wiry brown cub. "You really want to go out in that?" I asked with a nod towards the still thick fog.

"I know where the camp is," he answered eagerly. "I'll be fine." A toothy grin split his face. "Please?"

I sighed and took another look around me. Actually, the fog didn't look as thick now. I could even see a few rays of sunlight poking through the haze and spreading across the dusty stone surface beyond the watering hole. And I was in such a good mood, I probably would've said yes anyway.

"Okay, Kima," I said as I turned back around. "But make sure you take someone with…"

I stopped talking as my eyes focused in on the empty air that had been occupied by a smallish brown cub only a few seconds earlier. For a brief second, I understood exactly where the lines on my mother's face had come from.

"_I never said yes_!" I shouted into the fading mist over Nala's unsuccessful attempt to hold back a snort.

"The fog's not as thick over here!" a raspy, disembodied voice replied. "Don't worry, I can see gr…whoa!"

Kima's last shout of surprise had already drawn up the fur on the back of my neck, but what was even worse was what followed it. Not a giddy report on a cool rock he had just found. Not a quick reply that he was okay. Not even a cry for help.

Just complete, utter, hair-raising silence.

"Kima?" I said tentatively, stepping forward a few paces and squinting into the thinning mist. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Usiku standing beside me, with a somewhat calmer but no less concerned look on his face.

After a few more seconds with no reply, a thin, wavering voice finally floated back our way. "I…I'm okay," Kima said a bit breathlessly.

A relieved sigh sprang from Usiku's mouth, but the knot in my own stomach was still tied tight. If he was okay, then why was his voice so weak? "What happened?" I continued, straining to keep my voice slow and level. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine, but…" Another brief pause set my heart pounding. "There's a big canyon over here."

"How big?" Usiku asked.

"Really big," came the reply. "It's really far over to the other side…and I can't even see the bottom."

"We'll be right there," I assured him before I started slowly moving toward where I thought Kima's voice was coming from, with the rest of the Pridelanders close behind. Sure enough, Kima was waiting on the lip of an absolutely massive gorge. He hadn't even gone twenty feet.

"See?" Kima said, the appearance of his friends giving a bit more power to his voice. "I didn't even see it until I was right here. I almost fell in!"

"Gods above…" Usiku muttered. "What kind of crappy luck is that? Of all the watering holes in all the world, we end up in the one parked right next to the bottomless pit. How many canyons are even anywhere near the Pridelands, anyway?"

"I don't know," I chuckled. "I think there's just the…"

You know that feeling you get right when you realize you're backed into a corner with no way out? That sinking, sickening feeling that only shows up when something horrible happens, or when you know something horrible will happen, or when the past you've been running from for the last nine months sweeps your paws out from under you and takes your breath away before you even know it's there?

I didn't. Not until now.

"…one," I whispered, comprehension hitting me like a kick in the stomach.

"One what?" Nala asked, sounding utterly baffled. "What's wrong with the canyon?"

Come to think of it, I didn't really expect Nala to understand. I didn't expect anybody to understand, except for Tama. And what I didn't expect even more was what I heard next from by best friend: instead of reeling in shock or trying to comfort me, I could've sworn I heard him curse under his breath.

"Simba, I'm sure this is a different canyon," he said a bit roughly. "We can't have gone that far…"

"No," I replied almost as curtly. "This is it."

"This is _what_?" Nala interrupted again, whipping her gaze back and forth between Tama and me. "Simba, where are we?"

"The fog's thinning, Kima," Tama said, changing subjects suddenly while completely ignoring Nala's question. "Why don't you take everybody out and see if you can find us some breakfast?"

"Me?" Kima asked from somewhere behind me, sounding both ecstatic and apprehensive. "But…"

"I said go, Kima!" Tama growled, cutting off the younger cub before he could say anything else. Kima fell silent quickly, and I could tell that he didn't have a clue what was going on. And judging by the quickly lengthening silence, he wasn't alone in that sentiment. Only Afya seemed to have picked up on the hints Tama was dropping.

"Come on, Kima," she said, her tone tinged with a slight air of disdain I could only hope wasn't directed at me. "I think Simba needs a minute alone."

Kima apparently didn't feel like arguing, because just a moment later the sounds of my retreating pride were echoing through the fog. Only me, Tama, and Nala were left.

"Okay, they're gone," Nala said impatiently after another few seconds of silence. "Now will someone _please _tell me what the hell is going-"

"Simba thinks this is the canyon where Scar attacked him," Tama answered quickly, only taking his eyes off me for a moment. "He thinks this is where his dad died."

For a split second, Nala was silent, then I heard a slight gasp slip out of her throat. "Oh…" she whispered. "Oh, gods…"

"Wait a second," a fourth voice butted in suddenly, making me blink in surprise. I hadn't even noticed Usiku had stayed behind too. Then again, I hadn't turned around in about a minute either. "Are you tellin' me this is the same canyon that Mufasa…is he still down there?"

"No, he is not still down there," Tama answered for me. "And the reason he is not still down there is because he was never down there, because this is not the same can-"

"What if it is, Tama?"

All three cubs turned to look at me. I don't know why, but for some reason Tama was starting to annoy me. Why was he so sure I wasn't right back where I had started?

"Simba, look at yourself," Tama said, with surprisingly little sympathy. "You're still messed up about this nine months after it happened. Don't make it any worse by forcing yourself to relive it."

I turned back around and stared into the canyon again, still searching for something familiar, something that would tell me the truth once and for all. But despite the slight breeze swirling around us and gradually thinning the milky mist, I still couldn't catch even a glimpse of the bottom. After a few moments of watching me ignore him, Tama spoke up again.

"And even if this was the same canyon, which it's not, the fog's too thick anyway," he said. "You'd never make it all the way down there in one…"

At that exact moment, the breeze picked up. And finally, for the first time in almost a day, the fog around me lifted away. Finally, I saw the distant floor of the canyon, thick with dark brown dust that looked like it hadn't been touched in centuries. Finally, I was able to sweep my eyes along the ground, passing over rocks and boulders and the occasional bright white bone.

And finally, for the first time in nine months, I saw an angled boulder protrude from the ground, with a dried and dirty brown tree still coating it in shadow.

I was back. We were back. It was right in front of me.

And long before I even realized it, I was walking straight down into it.

• • •

**Usiku**

"Simba, wait a second!" Tama shouted as Simba, almost in a daze, starting walking towards a narrow path that led straight to the canyon floor. "Simba, don't…Simba!"

"What is he doing?" Nala asked frantically, whipping her head back and forth between Tama and the quickly disappearing tail of our leader. "Is it going down there?"

"Simba, listen to me!" Tama shouted, completely ignoring Nala. Of course, seeing as Simba completely ignored him too, it all evened out in the end.

"I'm going with him," Nala declared in a voice that made it clear she wasn't going to be convinced otherwise, and before Tama could try to anyway, she had vanished below the lip of the canyon edge. Meanwhile, I stayed where I was. I wasn't finished up here just yet.

Anyone with a pair of eyes could see that something big had been eating at Tama even before Kima nearly did a header into the infamous Gorge de la Pridelands. As far as I knew, he had woken up, glanced over at where Simba was still fast asleep with Nala, and been pissed off ever since. So I'm guessing there was some jealousy going there, but that still didn't excuse him from being an ass to Simba, nor did it explain why he was being even more of one now that we had found the canyon. And after my conversation with Simba that morning, I couldn't help but feel for the guy. After all, he was officially the third friend I'd ever made, and I planned on protecting that friendship at all costs. Even if that meant I had to protect him from his other friends.

So as Simba and Nala went down into the canyon and Tama seethed and muttered to himself in front of me, I sat down and got comfortable. I knew how these things worked. Someone got mad, they started acting irrationally, and then sooner or later they pushed all their troubles onto the nearest innocent bystander in a last-ditch effort to get someone to understand. And sometimes, all it took to stop them was the right innocent bystander.

And barring that, you could always take the "smack 'em so hard their grandcubs' heads spin" approach and hope for the best. I'm partial to either, quite frankly.

"You understand what's going on here, right?" Tama said forcefully only a few seconds after Simba left. Guess he wasn't as patient as I'd thought.

"I understand why he's going down there," I replied, concentrating on keeping my cool in the face of Tama's bitter tone. "I don't understand why you're getting so worked up about it."

"You want to know why I'm upset?" he yelled. "Simba still blames himself for what happened down there! It's been nine months since his dad died, and he still has nightmares about it! Whatever he finds down there, it's only gonna make things worse!"

"Says who? You?"

"Did you see him a second ago? Did he see what he looked like when he figured out where he was?"

"He looked like he'd seen a ghost," I admitted.

"Exactly," Tama continued. "And if he goes down there, he's letting that ghost back in. He's letting it take over, and if he lets it take over it'll never go away."

"Or maybe, if he goes down there he'll come to terms with it and be able to move on from it," I suggested with a pensive look at the sky. I glanced down to look Tama in the eyes a moment later. "That ever occur to you?"

Tama's glare darkened. "You don't know him," he said quietly. "You don't know him like-"

"Like you do?" I finished. "You mean, I don't know what it feels like to have your dad be murdered when you're just a little cub? And you do?"

"You…you don't know how he would handle it!" Tama shouted, suddenly stalking closer to me. "Simba can't face his past! It'll destroy him!"

"You really think that?" I replied. Something was starting to click together.

"I know that!" he answered quickly. But now I could see what that loud, brash tone of his really was. Now I had something to use against him.

"You want to know what I think?" I asked nonchalantly.

"What?" the brown-furred cub in front of me spat.

I looked away for a moment and shrugged, before staring him dead in the eyes one last time. "I think you're scared."

The shocked look on Tama's face told me exactly how accurate that guess was. But on the other hand, it wasn't really that hard of a guess. The size of his eyes and the way his paws were gripping the earth like he was afraid he was about to fly off it had been more than enough to tell me that he was pretty well terrified. But that still didn't answer the most important question of all: _why_?

Now came the tricky part. Right now, I had him backed into a corner, and I had two options about what to do with him. I could let him back out and try to have a heart-to-heart with him, or I could just push him and push him until he couldn't take it anymore. If he was a friend, or if I knew how he would react to either option, I would choose the former. But I knew close to nothing about him, and more than that he was in much too thick of a rage to have anything close to a civil conversation. So I went with option number two. And this was where it would get really tricky, because now that he had no chance to escape, _he_ was the one with only two options. He could give in and tell me what's really going on, or he could fly into a rage and make me give him a chance to escape. He could crack under the pressure, or he could explode right through it. Fight or flight. Pure animal instinct. And I had to wrangle it into a neat little ball.

Lucky for me, when it comes to animal instinct, I'm the smartest guy I know.

"What are you scared of, Tama?" I said, slowly and cautiously getting to my feet. "What about Simba going down there is so horrifying that you're willing to do all this to prevent it?"

No answer. I took a step forward.

"Is it the pride? Do you think you can't run it without him? That you can't handle all that responsibility?"

Tama's eyes narrowed, and I stopped walking. Obviously, that wasn't it. That was the other dangerous part about this strategy: you only had a few chances to get it right before that fear you created turned into rage. So it was like catching lightning in your paws and then hitting a target the size of a mango with it, all in the span of a few seconds. Nearly impossible to get right, and possibly deadly if you got it wrong.

I love stuff like that.

"Is it because you're the one that saved him from all this before?" I continued, taking another step forward. "You think he only likes you because you were the barrier, because you were the only thing keeping him from thinking about it?"

No glare this time, but his pupils widened ever so slightly. One step closer.

"Is it because he'll get better? Is it because he'll get closure for this, and you'll just be his best friend again instead of his savior?"

Even wider eyes now. I was nearly nose-to-nose with him. Time for the killshot. I either broke him here or lost my chance forever. But what to say?

As quickly as I could, I flashed through everything I knew about Tama, which unfortunately wasn't much. He was jealous of Simba…jealous of his relationship with Nala. But it wasn't just that; it wasn't the fact that he liked Nala that was the problem. He was jealous of the relationship itself. Of being loved. But now Simba was going to see his father. With Nala. His relationship with Nala…and his father.

His relationship with his father.

Oh, gods, it really was that simple.

I took one last step forward, never breaking eye contact and never losing my newfound sense of confidence, because I'd finally figured out what Tama was thinking. Because as I thought of Simba and his dad, I thought of how close Simba had been to his dad. And I remembered myself feeling the same way. And Tojo and Tani had been close to their dads, and I'd overheard all the other cubs talking about how their dads came to visit them, or how their dad ran off and they didn't care, or how they knew he was dead but were happy that he was in a better place now.

And what I finally realized in that moment was that, out of all the cubs I could think of, the only one I had never heard say a single word about their father was Tama.

"Or is it because you're jealous?" I finally said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "You're jealous of him knowing that his dad died to protect him, that now he gets to say goodbye to him, that he got to live with him and learn from him and love him?"

Tama's breaths started coming quicker and quicker. "Is that it, Tama?" I finished, knowing full well what would happen next if I was right. "Are you jealous that his dad loved him?"

I knew the slash was coming. I knew the second he started blinking so much and his paws started shaking. I knew the second I looked him in the eyes and saw that tiny mad spark that I'd come to know so well the last nine months, not as bright as Jino's but certainly there. But as Tama came after me and I dodged out of the way, I also knew something else: that even though it wasn't an answer, even though this technically meant that I'd screwed up, this attack was undeniable proof that my guess about what was really bothering him was right on the money. He hadn't said a word, and I'd read him like I'd known him my whole life. Not too bad for a guy with a mane the size of an acacia leaf.

It wasn't too hard to beat Tama off, even with a bum leg. He was just like me when I went into a rage: absolutely relentless, but utterly out of control. Almost as soon as the fight had begun, it was over, with Tama on his back below me and me with my good forepaw on his throat.

"Get…_off_ me!" Tama gasped, beating at my leg with murder in his eyes.

"Is this what you do, Tama?" I growled. "Other people get lucky, and you hurt them for it?" I was angry, and for good reason: Simba's "best friend" was looking like nothing but a vengeful, self-centered jerk right now, and of all the lions I'd ever met I couldn't think of one that deserved a friend like that less than Simba. Especially with what he was going through now.

And I'll admit, it didn't help that he was reminding me just a bit too much of one of _my_ old friends right now.

"I'm just…" Tama started to say.

"No, I'll tell what you're doing," I interrupted. "You're keeping your best friend from healing just because you never got a chance to heal yourself. This isn't about you, Tama! It's about Simba, and what happened to Simba, and what's best for _Simba_. Not you."

I wasn't really looking at Tama. I wasn't really looking at anything.

"You're just like Jino," I said. And before I could stop myself, before I even realize I was thinking it, I said something else.

"You're just like Scar."

It was like I'd just smacked Tama across the face. The spark was gone, the anger was gone…even the jealousy that had been written all over his face the whole morning. Gone. All that was left were two shocked and horrified brown irises trapped beneath my paw.

And before I knew it, those two brown irises were filling up with tears.

In a bit of a daze, I let my paw slide off Tama's throat. In an instant, he was gone, sprinting back towards the watering hole like he was afraid I would be right on his tail the whole time. But I didn't chase him away. I didn't even move. I just sat there and watched him fade into the distance, and tried to figure out why the stomach-churning sensation of guilt had just decided to curl up in the middle of my throat.

_It's not like it matters what he thinks now_, I tried to tell myself. _Jino always regretted it…_

Yeah, but did he ever cry? Did he ever have a look of utter horror completely encompass his face, like he knew exactly what he'd done and hated himself for it? Jino never had that look. He'd say he was sorry, but he'd never meant it. He'd been regretful, but never repentant. Jino…not Tama. It all came back to Jino.

It was right about then that I realized what the real reason for my guilt was. I hadn't been looking at Tama when I said all that. I was looking at Jino. Tama reminded me so much of Jino that I believed he _was_ Jino, and I took out all my anger and frustration and heartbreak on someone that was just as messed up as I was. Maybe even more than me.

So what did that make me?

I sighed and shut my eyes, trying to block out the dull ache worming its way across my temple. I was giving myself a headache again. Seems like that's been happening a lot lately.

For a brief moment, I considered going after Tama and apologizing, but it didn't take long for my to slap that plan down. Maybe I _had_ overreacted, but that didn't mean I had to forget about what he did. And not to mention, my brain was still seemingly hell-bent on squishing itself into jelly, so trying to have a rational conversation probably wasn't the best of ideas right then.

So instead of running after Tama, I sat back down and stared down at the canyon, ready to wait all day for Simba to come back up. Maybe by then, Tama will have gotten his head screwed on straight. Maybe by then, I'll have gotten _my_ head screwed on straight.

And maybe by then, I'll have figured out when the concept of right and wrong got so damn complicated.

• • •

**Simba**

You know, I'm fine with my feet moving by themselves every now and then, but when they don't bother to tell me where exactly they're moving me to, it starts to get a bit annoying.

"Simba, wait up…"

Oh, who am I kidding? I knew exactly where I was going. Now, _why_, on the other hand…that was still open to debate.

"Simba…"

It was strange, really. Here I was, so dead set on finding that one unique broken tree in a canyon ten miles long that I could almost feel the ropes around my neck tugging me towards it, and yet I couldn't have told you what exactly those ropes were if my life depended on it. But that wasn't stopping me in the slightest.

"Simba, where are we going?" Nala asked, still trying desperately to gain my attention. I should've known she would follow me.

Let her. She might get frustrated eventually, but at least she wouldn't try to change my mind about it. Not like Tama.

"Simba, you're scaring me…"

_Turn around, _someone said from far away. It wasn't my voice, though...but I still recognized it. Somehow. At the moment, it felt like there was more fog swirling around inside my head then there was outside it.

_You're wasting your time._

No, I'm not. He's there. He has to be.

_So what if he is? What's it gonna change?_

"Simba…"

It doesn't have to change anything. I just…

_You're making things worse._

I don't care.

_He's dead, Simba. You don't need to remind yourself._

Finally, I stopped, to the very vocal relief of Nala behind me. Now I knew whose voice that was. Tama. Even inside my head, he was telling me what to do.

Was he trying to help? Did he have some horrible secret he hadn't told me about? I didn't know. All I knew was that for once in my life, I didn't care either. I was sick of never making a decision by myself, and whether the Tama in my head was real or just my imagination, I wasn't going to listen to him anymore.

In an instant, I was tearing through the canyon, sprinting so fast that I could hardly even see where I was going. Then again, I didn't need to. I knew exactly where I was going, where I was running…I could feel the wildebeests' hooves bearing down on me. And then they were gone again, whisked away back to whatever ghostly world they came from. And even though I couldn't even decide whether I was running for my life or away from it, I managed to wonder for just a moment whether I was starting to see things, or just going insane.

The drumbeat of my heart was deafening. The canyon was filled with dust, Nala right on my heels as the wildebeest horde swarmed around me. Was the canyon getting narrower, or were the walls just blurring together? The wind pushed past my eyelids and brought tears to my eyes. I blinked them away. They came back.

And then, everything was gone. I was alone in a desolate, dead gorge. The mist was rising. My lungs were heaving.

And about twenty feet away, just beyond the edge of my vision, was a twisted, gnarled old stick of a tree, jagged splinters of ancient wood jutting out from where an errant hoof had snapped it in two.

Nala caught up to me in the same instant my paws ground to a halt. "Simba, I told you to wait!" she gasped. "What…"

Her protest died in her throat and slipped off the edge of her tongue as she saw the look on my face, comprehension drawing a mixture of horror and concern out onto her face. "Is that…" she began to ask in barely more than a whisper. "Is that where he…"

I took a step forward. Now I could see the whole trunk. It didn't look like anything had touched it in centuries. Another step. A tiny puff of dust rose up each time my paw met the earth. It hadn't rained in centuries either.

One more step. I could see the base of the trunk, still reminiscent of the hardy plant's long-dead aspirations to defy nature, to dig through the rock and find life beneath. A rebel without a cause.

One more step. This was where he fell.

One last step. The entire tree was in full relief. I could see everything: the cracked, fraying branches, the crumbling bark, the bone-dry roots, and…

An empty stretch of rock.

Empty.

There was nothing there. No body, no bones, no solace. Gone.

"He…he's gone," I stuttered stupidly, struck dumb by the absence of my father's body. He couldn't be gone. How could he be gone? He had to be here. I needed him to be here.

"Scar must've moved his body after you…after you left," Nala said a bit nervously. "Maybe he's still nearby…"

"He's gone."

"Simba, I know he's gone. I don't know where he is."

"He can't be…"

"Simba? Simba, are you…"

"He can't be gone!" I shouted over her, a sudden spurt of panic shoving my legs forward a few more feet. But then I stopped again, just as quickly as before. Once again, something caught my eye, and once again it sent my brain spiraling down into a place I hoped never to revisit.

The dust choking the stone beneath my paws was inarguable evidence of just how little rain the canyon had gotten. I had thought it hadn't rained in months…and as it turned out, I was right. Because right below the tree, I could just barely see a faint outline where the dust wasn't quite as thick. Anyone else wouldn't have known what to make of it, but I knew exactly what that strange curling protrusion sticking out from the nebulous shape was. It didn't just look like an outstretched paw; it was one. And so was the second jutting oval right next to it. And the third. And the fourth.

That was all that was left of him. Just an outline in the dirt. Just a shadow. Just flashes from a previous life, ghosts of good times come and gone.

It was all so clear now, so real. He was dead. My father was dead, and coming down here never had any hope of changing that. We would never walk together again, never wrestle in the den till our lungs ached, never smile at a joke no one else could possibly understand. So, why bother trying to think anything else? Why bother to keep pretending that everything was just peachy, that there was a point to devoting our whole lives to killing ourselves off before nature could do it for us? Why bother fighting; it all ended the same, didn't it? We could kick and scream all we wanted, but sooner or later all of us—weak, strong, short, and long—would end up beaten and broken in the middle of a burning field, or the bed of a raging river, or the bottom of a deserted canyon. So what's the point of living, if dying's all that'll ever come of it?

A deluge of memories beat against the backs of my eyelids, taunting me with desires I knew perfectly well were impossible. Nothing was spared; every sleepy morning nestled up against his side, every time I'd left him in the dust in favor of my fascination with the grasslands, every time I'd heeded his words and every time I'd ignored them. And of course, the stampede was so vivid I could almost hear the hooves pounding in my ears. Or maybe that was just my heart.

Finally, utter hopelessness bore down on my shoulders and clamped around my chest. A single dark circle appeared on the grungy stone beneath me, and another one bloomed soon after. There was nothing left to do. Nothing that I, or Nala, or even the gods could do. Nothing to do but just…

Live.

Live on.

_They live in you._

I blinked hard. One last memory had finally succeeded in bringing me back from the brink of complete indifference. It was hardly even a memory, really…more like a feeling, or a dream I'd had a long time ago. It was the earliest memory I could call my own, back when I was barely big enough to walk on my own. My dad was holding me between his paws; his face was huge, but not frightening. I was happy. He was happy. He was smiling.

And he was singing.

Even now, even after nine months of isolation, after being broken, healed, and beaten down a hundred times over, I never forgot that song. I never forgot that day in the den, when my father sang to me quietly, almost under his breath, a song that I knew even then was more sacred than anything any god could ever bring forth. I never forgot the love I saw shining in his eyes, or the unbelievable feeling of warmth that coursed through my body with every verse. But most of all, I never forgot the first time I looked up at that big, red-maned lion with the heavyset eyes and the deep voice, and saw my father.

_Wait…there's no mountain too great…_

I could still hear him. I could still hear his voice: loving, smooth, a little off-key but so powerful that I never noticed nor cared. It echoed all around me.

_Hear these words and have faith…_

It echoed inside of me. From deep within my heart, the words gushed forward like a waterfall, enveloping me and drawing me away from my pain, away from the world I'd thought I hated.

_They live in you…_

It wasn't a memory; it was real. I could feel him standing over me, watching me, waiting to see what I'd do next.

What would I do next?

I blinked again. I was right next to the faded shadow of where my father fell. His body was still gone…but he wasn't. He was still beside me, still inside me…and he always had been. He had been the one watching over me all those months, the one that comforted me and told me where to go when I couldn't see the path on my own.

But there was still something missing. The connection was there, but it was weak, fraying at the edges like it would snap and be lost at any moment. And I had only one idea about how to fix it.

I couldn't even begin to count the number of memories I had of me and my dad together. But in those memories, it seems like all we did was _do_ things together. Wherever he was, I was…but was because I loved him, or because I didn't know any better? I would never know, because I never truly talked to him about any of it. It was one of those things I had just taken for granted: why appreciate what I had when I'd never known anything different? Even during that last night out in the grasslands, when the only company we'd had were the stars above us, I still didn't say anything. We laughed over the hyenas like old friends, but we never went on to bigger things that were much more important than a few slobbering poachers. We talked, but we never really spoke. I never knew how I felt about him, and I never told him as much.

So maybe now, I could fix that.

Some part of me wondered if he still wouldn't be able to hear me, even if he was watching from somewhere unseen. But a much bigger part of me, the part that had drawn me closer to the only physical remnant of him still remaining in this world, didn't care one way or the other. Worthless endeavor or not, I had to talk to my dad one last time.

"Hey, Dad," I said, my voice raspy but still steady. "It's…it's been a while, hasn't it?" A stupid grin spread out across my face. "Gods, I sound like an idiot. I don't even know what I'm supposed to say. But I guess…I guess I don't really need to know what to say, do I? This is all I wanted right here: just…just to be able to do this. To talk."

I shut my eyes. By now, there was no delay between what I thought and what came out of my mouth.

"You know, I still remember when you took me out into the grasslands that last time. You told me about the Circle of Life, and how we all help each other…I forgot that for a while. I forgot all of that."

The fog was starting to creep up alongside me again. "I've got my own pride now, Dad. I got everybody out of Pride Rock, and I brought Tama and Nala and all the other cubs with me, and we're doing great. Really great. And I didn't even think I could do it, at first. I never thought I could do as good a job as…as you."

That was weird…instead of blocking off the dusty stone of the canyon floor, the fog was just making it blurry and hard to focus on. "And we're gonna rescue everybody else, too. We're gonna go back and beat Scar and we're gonna fix everything…"

A glistening drop of moisture shattered on the ground below, creating a third dark spot right next to the other two. I blinked, and the mist receded. A moment later, it was back again.

"Did you ever know how much I loved you, Dad?" I said. My voice was getting faster and shakier with each passing second. "I never told you, did I? I…I just never thought you would ever be gone, and I would always have you there to help me, and I don't now and I don't know what I'm gonna do…"

I was blinking so fast now that my eyes were closed more than they were open. The tears still came faster.

"I'm sorry, Dad," I croaked as I finally lost my battle with the raging tide storming behind my eyes. "I'm sorry I never told you how much you meant to me. And I'm sorry I never listened to you, and I'm sorry I got in trouble all those times and drove you and Mom nuts…and I'm sorry you're…"

I took a long, shuddering breath and swallowed back the lump in my throat. "I'm sorry I let you die be…because of me. I…I shouldn't have come down here ever, and I screwed everything up because of it and now you're gone and I don't know if I can do this on my own. I miss you, Dad…"

One final time, I swallowed hard. "I love you, Dad," I choked, the tears rolling down my muzzle burning against my skin. "I never meant for any of this to happen…I'm sorry. All I…all I ever wanted to be like you…and I don't wanna be worried anymore. I don't wanna be scared anymore. I just want to hear you again. I want you here with me. Just…just one last…"

And with that, I was spent. My hind legs slipped out from underneath me, and it was all I could do to keep my forelegs from doing the same. I cried freely now, each sob sending another reminder of what I had lost reverberating through my brain, and each reminder making me sob harder. The feeling that my dad was watching me had dissolved into the shadows hiding in the corners of the gorge, and the warmth I had felt vicariously through my memories was quickly fading as well. Once again, only one thought occupied my mind: _He's gone. He's gone, and it's your fault._

"It's not your fault."

I didn't hear a voice reject the mantra pounding through my head. Rather, I felt the empty sensation in the pit of my stomach be filled by the words, like I had just swallowed a huge mouthful of meat. At the same time, I felt something warm brush against my shoulder: a paw, gentle and kind. Just like I had felt so long ago at the river caves.

This time, I wanted to see him. This time, I wanted to make sure he was really there. But when I turned around, I didn't see a tall, muscular lion with an auburn mane to match his eyes. Instead, I saw a pair of vibrant green eyes fill the void behind me, the irises rimmed with glimmering beads of moisture and filled with the same deep affection I had seen in my own father's eyes.

"It's not your fault," Nala repeated in a whisper, her paw still tenderly caressing the peak of my shoulder blade. A faint smile drew up the corners of her mouth ever so slightly, and I returned the favor. And finally, for the first time that whole day, I remembered what I still had.

Maybe my dad was dead, but the only way he would ever be gone was if I decided to forget him. And as for his role of best friend…I had Nala for that now. I had an entire pride for that now. And they didn't even replace him; he lived in them too. He was part of the grass, and the trees, and the watering holes, and the sunrise, and most of all he was part of the cream-furred, verdant-eyed lioness behind me that I knew I would always be able to count on.

And so it was that in the same moment I realized how much I loved my dad that I realized I loved Nala just as much. And just that alone made all the difference in the world.

Gradually, I began to return Nala's smile, my face splitting into a grin even wider than hers. I was still crying, but now I knew that once I was done mourning, everything would be okay. We would be able to live in safety out in the grasslands, and we would learn from the world around us and become stronger for it, and we would use that strength to right every one of the wrongs that had sprung up in the last nine months.

And we would be happy. I would be happy.

Me. Happy. What a crazy thought.

But then again, how can you be living if everything makes sense all the time?

I reached back with my own forepaw and slid it over Nala's, my pulse starting to race as her paw toes splayed out across my shoulder. She laughed, in that tinkly, innocent way that I'd never really realized how much I adored, and moved closer, until she was near enough to sit down next to me and wipe some of the tears away from my eyes.

"I'm telling the truth, you know," she said warmly, a tiny glint of amusement and a much bigger glint of devotion flitting through her eyes.

I let out a laugh of my own. "I know," I replied quietly, completely forgetting about the state of my face as I rubbed my head against hers. Nala didn't seem to mind much, though, judging by how eagerly she returned the favor. My eyes wept, and my heart soared, and the whole time Nala stayed right by my side. Sooner or later, we would go back up to the watering hole and I would leave this part of my life behind, but not until I was finished remembering it one last time. Not until I decided that I was ready to move on. And certainly not until Nala was ready to leave as well.

We stayed down in the canyon for a long time.


	20. Chapter 17: The First Step

**Chapter 17: The First Step**

**Sajini**

"You _lost _them?"

Instead of answering, the brawny, thick-headed squad leader in front of me just looked down at his toes. His square-jawed face was twisted into a plaintive look, probably in a desperate attempt at garnering some of my sympathy. So far, it wasn't working.

I let out the infuriated snarl I'd been holding in ever since his hunting party had returned, half of them soaking wet and none of them with anything to show for it. How hard could it possibly be to track down a mangy bunch of half-starved _lion cubs_?

"Boss, I…" the brute started to explain.

"No! No excuses, Katili!" I snapped back before he could finish. "You let them escape!"

"Well, we didn't really let 'em," Katili mumbled, his justification supported by the emphatic nods of his comrades. "They sorta smashed up the log and all…"

"Oh, and of course a single stream could vanquish even the bravest of warriors!" I growled.

"Hey, half our guys had already gone down when it blew up!" he argued back in a dangerously blunt voice before dropping back down to a meek mutter. "Besides, I can't swim."

"It doesn't matter!" I almost screamed. The rest of my army fell back as I paced back and forth. It was bad enough that my entire army had been outfoxed not just once, but twice by a band of children half their size. But what was even worse was that I knew that in the eyes of posterity (not to mention Scar), it would be seen as my fault. Never mind the fact that I had been overseeing the entire operation from Pride Rock; I was the leader. And when everything falls to pieces, there's only one guy that always has to clean up afterwards. "You think trying hard will mean anything? You think any excuse you could possibly give will mean anything if word of this gets out? You're the biggest army this land has ever seen, and you were beaten by _cubs_! Am I supposed to baby-sit you every hour of the day?"

"No, boss…"

"Well, you might show it, then!" I seethed. "Do you have any idea what this will look like? Do you have any idea what Scar would do to you if he finds out they've escaped?"

"Well, now, isn't that an interesting question," a new voice remarked from behind the throng. "What _would _I do?"

I sucked in a deep breath and tried to fake a stoic look as the crowd parted to reveal the king of Pride Rock. He looked calm, but unfortunately that didn't even come close to meaning everything was hunky-dory. Scar was one of those sarcastic types that only yelled when he was panicked. When he was pissed off, things just tended to end up dead. And right now, I had a sinking suspicion that today's "thing" bore more than a passing resemblance to yours truly.

"Your majesty," I said, forcing a simpering smile through my lips. "I was just about to come find you…"

"Oh, no need to tell me anything," he answered before I could even ask a question. "I've heard all I need to hear."

_Oh, brilliant. Our high and mighty king has been eavesdropping again. It really would kill him to just grow a pair and not lurk around in the shadows like a damn-_

"Quite frankly, I'm not surprised," Scar continued with a smirk. "But you already knew that, didn't you, Sajini?"

"They can't have gone far," I replied through my teeth. I wasn't even sure if I had enough willpower to keep from giving him his right then and there. "And they probably won't expect another attack so soon. Once the river comes down again-"

"Oh, I don't think that'll be necessary," Scar interrupted with a bored inflection. "Heaven knows, your _warriors _need their rest."

Just from the silence following that statement, I could tell I wasn't the only one thinking less than friendly thoughts about the so-called lion king. "Excuse me?" I asked, biting back my rage long enough to hide it behind a mask of confusion.

"Well, now, this last failure makes twice that you've been unable to complete the simplest of tasks. It wouldn't be reasonable to assume the third attempt would be any different."

"So what exactly do you propose we do?" I asked in a growl.

"They've already left the Pridelands," Scar replied matter-of-factly. "All we need to do is make sure they won't return."

_What the hell is this "we" stuff?_, I thought. But just a moment later, I found out exactly what that meant, and I didn't like it one bit.

The king strode forward and addressed my army, subtly stepping in front of me and blocking me from view. "Starting tomorrow, I want patrols positioned every half-mile along the border," he proclaimed. "Let no river crossing, grassland, or treeline go unguarded. Sooner or later, those little brats will try to come back and save the rest of their families, and when they do, we'll be waiting for them."

The eyes of my soldiers turned to me. They knew well enough to be shocked that Scar would so blatantly disrespect my authority over my own army. And I knew well enough exactly what I would've done to any hyena that tried to do the same. Did Scar have any idea how many hyenas that would take? How spread out our army would be? How hard it would be to keep so many patrols fed, well-rested, under control?

I honestly don't know how I managed to keep a polite tone, but somehow the next words to leave my lips held a strained air of cordiality. "Begging your pardon, sire," I said through a tight-lipped grin. "But I think I'm quite capable of giving orders to my-"

"Oh, yes, of giving them, you're certainly without equal," he crooned with another smirk. "But even a strapping army such as this is only as good as their commander intends them to be. And I don't care much for intentions, Sajini. I never have. I care about results. And you…you just haven't brought me any results. So perhaps a fresh change in leadership would facilitate that cause."

"You can't be serious!"

"I'm quite serious, Sajini," Scar shot back quickly, his smirk gone. "And I expect you to take my wishes seriously as well. Or are you forgetting who allowed you to escape the Outlands in the first place?"

For a few valuable seconds, disbelief and shock tied my tongue into a knot. I had thought I'd earned at least some bit of trust from the king over the last nine months, but here he was threatening to exile me and my entire army after what was essentially one mission. It was pretty obvious by now that he was hopeless at military strategy; any commander worth his claws could see the impracticality of putting so many soldiers into border patrol in an area as big as the Pridelands. A few units might have been possible, but his plan would take nearly the entire army. But then, of course, there was the twig that broke the zebra's back: if I didn't agree to this, he would kick me out by force (or just kill me) and do it himself.

It went against fiber of my being to give in to him, but as I thought about it I began to realize that I really didn't have much of a choice. As humiliating as it was to allow this idiot to push me around, it would be even more so to resist. It's rule number one in the army: you do what the higher officer tells you to, and if what he tells you is the most dumbass plan in history, well, tough shit. You do it anyway. Death is one thing; dishonor is a whole other cut above.

But, see the real problem with that isn't that you get killed. It's that you start wondering why you're lower than the dumbass who made that plan in the first place. And to be honest, that's exactly what I was thinking at that very moment. But I knew that no amount of griping and compromising—reasoning, even—would change his mind. And while kicking his ass was certainly an increasingly appealing idea, all that would lead to was anarchy in the ranks and the complete destruction of my reputation rather than just the partial one the milder option included. Not to mention, it'd piss off every lion within ten miles of here something awful. And after staying awake for two solid nights and getting outsmarted twice by a bunch of cubs half their size, I had a feeling the anxious-looking throng behind me wasn't exactly in prime fighting condition.

Whether he knew it or not, Scar had me by the balls. And if I wanted to keep breathing the good air for very much longer, I was going to have to accept that. But I'd be damned if I ever forgot it. And I'd be damned if I didn't show him right now that he didn't have as good a grip as he thought.

"Tumai and Shaka, take a headcount of your squads and have a status report ready in fifteen minutes," I called out to two of my lieutenants, never breaking eye contact with Scar. "Then get some rest. I'll organize patrols and relief units tomorrow morning."

I knew Scar wouldn't be happy about that, and he proved my suspicion right a moment later. "With all due respect, _Sajini_," he interjected in a silky tone, putting an extra bit of emphasis on my name. I guess he thought that would intimidate me. "I think such an endeavor might be better begun now than-"

"With all due respect, _your majesty_, I don't think such an endeavor is really worth anything if the patrols can't see three feet in front of them," I replied just as passively, though with a hint of malice behind it that I gotta admit was intended to intimidate Scar in return. "Even a strapping army like this one needs rest. Or would you like to be the one to tell them to keep fighting against an enemy they can't even see?"

A moment of silence later, I turned back to the soldiers. "Dismissed," I said forcefully. No one moved.

Now Scar was the one with the shocked expression on his face, and I was the one with the smirk, though mine wasn't nearly as cocky as his had been. But instead of fighting back like I had, Scar was quick to back down.

"Very well," he said calmly, acting as if I wasn't important enough to bother with but furtively backing away all the while. "I expect full readiness in the morning, though."

"Of course, your majesty," I answered, my smile broadening into a toothy grin as the gap between us widened. He could pretend he didn't care one bit about my insubordination all he wanted, but simply by doing nothing about it he was proving to every soldier in attendance that I was still the one in charge. Scar was the king, but I was their leader, and nothing would ever change that. Funny how the army works.

With a final glance at the crowd around them, Scar slunk back to Pride Rock, leaving the rest of the hyenas to wander off themselves and figure out exactly what had just happened. But as for me, I had more important things on my mind.

Even though I had come out on top this time, I couldn't ignore what had almost happened. Scar had tried to take control of my army; even being king of Pride Rock wasn't enough for him. Today's defeat would only make him angrier, and whether he acted on that anger tomorrow or ten years from now, eventually he would have to be stopped. I would have to stop him. I would have to beat him back. I would have to win.

And as that thought occurred to me, an inkling of an idea began to take form in my brain. Not even an idea, really…more of a vision. A vision of an entire legion of battle-ready hyenas, with me at the very front of the line. A vision of Scar, trying to fight back and being utterly overrun. A vision of all the oppression, humiliation, and degradation we'd suffered through the past fifteen years being paid back in blood. A vision of me ascending the promontory of Pride Rock, and the sun itself basking in the glory of my land.

My _kingdom._

Yes. I could be the leader. I could be the _king_. And all that was in my way was one scrawny, mangy, cowardly lion. I had an army behind me…what did he have but fancy words and a sly smile?

Finally, I turned around one last time and rejoined the pack, my mind spinning with giddy, fiery ambition. We might not be in fighting shape now, and we might not be quite strong to take down the biggest lion pride under the sun without heavy losses…but someday, we would be. And when that day came, I would be ready.

So go ahead and turn your back on me, Scar. Go ahead and think your title will be enough to protect you. Go ahead and think you're safe. Because I swear to you right now, when you least expect it, that's when we'll strike. That's when we'll beat you down. That's when the hyenas will finally retake what's rightfully theirs.

And that's when you will rue the freaking day that you ever tried to double-cross me.

• • •

**Simba**

By the time Nala and I made it back up to the ridge where we'd left Usiku, the fog had dissipated entirely. Only a few wispy clouds remained in sight, and they were drifting lazily east high above our heads.

As we climbed into view and left the gorge behind for what I hoped would be the last time, I saw Usiku lying a few feet away from the edge of the cliff, his rough dark fur contrasting heavily with the bright blue sky overhead. He must've been deep in thought about something, because he didn't even notice us until we were right next to him.

"Well, you took your time," he grunted as he got to his feet, his eyes flicking up to study mine. "You all right?"

"Yeah, I am," I replied with a smile. Usiku smiled back, but his own grin faded away long before mine had hardly even fully formed. For the first time that day, I noticed how tired he looked.

"Are _you_ all right?" I repeated back.

"Me? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he answered with a sigh. "Just had a…weird morning."

"Good weird or bad weird?"

"I'll tell you once I decide."

I laughed. I should've known better than to bother asking. "All right, then…where'd Tama go?"

For some reason, Usiku bit his lip. "I don't know," he replied with an uncomfortable edge to his voice. "He ran off a while ago."

It was strangely satisfying when I realized that something was going on that Usiku wasn't telling me about, and that he wanted to keep that a secret. Must've been karma or something. "Okay, what happened?" I asked as I tried to stare down the brown-furred cub in front of me.

"I'll tell you later," the target of my short-lived interrogation said quickly. Should've known that wasn't gonna work either. Well, at least he would tell me "later". That was progress. In a loose sense of the word.

"You seen anyone else come back from the hunt yet?" I continued.

"Nope."

"You think they'll be back soon?"

"Do you?"

"Who's leading it again?"

"Mister Small, Dark, and Hyper."

"Guess not, then."

"Smart boy."

"Thank you."

"Don't get cocky."

"Says the guy who thinks he can run ten miles with a foot-long gash in his leg."

"Hey, that's not cocky. That's confident."

"There's a difference?"

"Yep. Confident is when you're full of yourself. Cocky is when someone else notices."

I laughed again. "You're all right, Usiku."

Usiku grinned back, and this time it stuck around. "Well, you're not half bad yourself, Simba."

Nala laughed too as Usiku and I fell silent. "What am I gonna do with you two?" she sighed with an exaggerated roll of her eyes.

Both Usiku and I turned to look at Nala, and then at each other. Somehow, I knew he was thinking of saying the same thing as me.

"Sorry, Mom," we both shot back in unison. Nala's smile drooped, and her amused expression was wiped away by something between shock and annoyance. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

"Should we run?" Usiku asked brightly as Nala's brow began to furrow.

"Oh, yeah," I answered just as cheerily. And before Nala could even think to respond, we were already long gone.

"Hey! Get back here, you little…" I heard her yell as Usiku and I took off running. Actually, it was more of an ungainly trot, seeing as we were both laughing hard enough to make our sides hurt. But soon enough, Nala's tone lightened up too.

"Yeah, you better run!" she shouted. "Whoever I catch is gonna wish they'd never been born!"

"You think she means that?" I panted to the brown blur next to me.

"Well, she's strong, pissed off, and female," he wheezed back. "So I'd say yes."

"But we can outrun her, right?"

Usiku turned and smirked at me again. "I don't need to outrun her," he laughed as he sped up and left me in the dust. "Just you!"

I grinned and pushed myself into a sprint, relishing in the wind whipping through my ears and across my back. Behind me, Nala was steadily gaining on me, a dangerous-looking grin slowly unfurling across her face. Around me, the air rang with laughter, most of it coming from my own mouth. In front of me, the whole world was laid out in all its glory, just begging to be explored, enjoyed, and lived to the fullest. And above me, the sun gleamed in the center of the sky, bright and warm and radiating with the hope of a new life, a new adventure, an old conclusion and a new beginning.

It was going to be a beautiful day.

* * *

Well, I did say that not much was gonna happen. This was really nothing but a little wrap-up for Part 1, so I don't really expect to get any reviews on this because of that and the whole chapter rearranging thing I did a minute ago. But, as always, any comments that anyone wishes to leave (or are capable of leaving) are appreciated.

Okay, so before you go, I've got just a couple things to say about the future of this story. First off: the title change. I took the "Part 1" out of the title for two reasons: 1) I was originally going to publish each part as a separate story, and now I've thankfully decided against that, and 2) it looked stupid without the dash in there (which the site, for whatever reason, keeps rejecting. On a related note, I had several ideas for bad puns about rejecting things, but I didn't put any of them in. Lucky you.). So now the whole shebang's gonna be posted in this one story.

As for Part 2 itself, it will actually be delayed by two and possibly three things. The first two are Growing Down (which was actually even more popular than I'd hoped...I guess the "sex plus comedy equals moola" thing really does work), and a separate story I'll be writing about Tama and Amani. Think Chapter 15 again, only published as an entirely separate story. The third thing is something that might not happen, as it's just background for a minor story arc involving Usiku that I might end up cutting out of the story due to logistical issues. And yes, I realize that this will be the second time that I break out a giant epic story that has nothing to do with the main plot, and all I can say is: I'm sorry. I'll be the first to admit that I screwed up big time when I was planning this story, and this is (hopefully) the very last bite-in-the-ass from that original outline that I'll have to go through. I've learned a lot over the last nine months, and one of the things I've learned is that, for most of Part 1, I was letting the characters write the story (as in, I got so sidetracked by their personal stories that I forgot about the main plot of the story I was supposed to be writing). It's fun, but it's time-consuming and it makes you get off-track a lot, so I'm gonna try and keep that to a minimum in the future.

So, for now, this is it for this particular "story". I'll still be publishing the other Pridelanders-related ministories soon (...yeah, right. ASAP, at least.), but this document here won't be seeing any updates for a while. I hope you enjoyed the first portion of my "summer project" (*snort*), and I also hope that you continue to enjoy it from here till its conclusion.

In conclusion, I used parantheses way too much in that spiel there. And it was way too long. But I guess that's just par for the course for me. Peace out.


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